Breaking Boundaries
by Luminousknightmaxis
Summary: (AU) Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are two mammals who have nothing in common. Nick is a tailor and salesman of Wild Style clothing store who's dreams were pulled away from him and Judy is an officer who has begun to realise that her dream may become a never ending nightmare. It's either their stubbornness or their families that will bring them together on a mysterious case.
1. Chance encounter

LKM:I got bored so I wrote this. It will be a one shot unless it gets support. Still working on two other stories I have writer's block on, so yeah. Also been watching a lot of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.

Prologue: People believe that changing one's fate will not have many repercussions. That is not true. Everyone's fates are like lily pads in a pond. Move one, and a ripple moves all the others.

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Judy Hopps has been stuck doing parking duty for a week now and it was only worsening as the month wore on. She was constantly yelled out, insulted, and demeaned almost daily. She hasn't had a real case since she began working, despite her valedictorian status. The orange vest she wore seemed more like a straight jacket, confining her potential and sealing it away. She drove a golf cart around the city and was expected to feel proud of it.

She sighed as she slapped another ticket on the windshield of a car she passed. She didn't want to stick around for the owner to return and cuss her out.

She steadily made her way up the street until she saw a red fox sitting quietly on a bench. He was dressed in a white dress shirt with a dark blue tie and brown slacks. What Judy was most interested in was the paper bag next to him. It was unmarked and stapled closed. Judy watched silently from the sidelines as she judged the shifty animal. An otter walked up to him and struck a conversation with him. The fox pulled out a card and looked from the otter to the card. The fox then gave the otter a warm smile and traded the bag for a wad of bills. This only heightened Judy's suspicions and she waited several minutes until the fox jumped off the bench and walk away with his hands in his pockets. Judy rushed forward and cut him off from his path. The fox jumped back in surprise and pulled his hands out of his pockets as he stared at the rabbit in confusion.

"Um, what's with the get-up?" The fox asked with a raised brow. He didn't think she was a real police officer. She felt one of her buttons being pressed and she almost snapped. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"It's not a get-up," Judy answered with venom in her deceptively sweet voice. "It's a uniform."

"Oh," the fox had a spark realization in his green eyes and a smug grin appeared on his face. "You must be that token bunny that Mayor Lionheart put on the force!" Judy felt her ire rising slowly the more he talked. "I was worried you were a real cop."

"I'm not a token bunny!" She growled.

"Then, why are you on parking duty when you should be on the field?" The fox asked innocently. Judy stopped her retort and shut her mouth. "I mean, I've seen you everyday for a week acting meter maid. It used to be a nice old armadillo that was against predator and prey segregation. Good guy. Now there is a rabbit who looks like she has something better to do." Judy looked him in the eye and pointed at him accusingly.

"Well, I'm not the one selling unknown substances to otters!" She spat. "And even though I am a meter maid, I can still arrest you for suspicious behavior." The grin on the fox' face slowly melted and his eyes hardened to a defensive look.

"Would you arrest me if I was a rabbit?" He asked slowly. Judy dropped her hand and bent her head in shame. She wouldn't have given it a second thought. "I take that as a no." The fox looked down at his hand and clenched it tightly.

"And if you think you will get anywhere in this city, forget it. You can't change the world," his voice took a more hurt and solemn tone as he looked back up. "You can only prove the world wrong. And that badge of yours will only hold you back from doing that." He brushed past her and stopped so that the back of his hand almost touched her shoulder.

"And so that everything is clear, that was a tie and sweater vest that I gave to Mr. Otterton, not some drug." He said with a clipped tone. "Just so you don't waste your time or my own." He walked away with his hands jammed back into his pockets. Judy looked blankly at her badge and replayed what the fox said multiple times in her head. She only took one thing from his words. She can prove everyone wrong.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nick entered the brightly lit store of Wilde Style with a definite slump. His brother, Samuel, was behind the front desk, sewing a suit together. The place was occupied by several predators customers. Only predators. Nick shuffled to the front desk, opened the small door and passed his brother without a word. It took several seconds for Samuel to notice his brother's presence and his blue eyes centered right on his brother. Nick just shrugged and continued going further into the store until he reached the stairs leading to their living quarters. He trudged up the steps and went into one of the three rooms. Nick's room was very tidy, everything organized like it should be.

He began looking through a stack of newspapers on his desk until he found the one from the week prior.

'WELCOME TO THE FORCE, JUDY HOPPS!' The headline was above a picture of a rabbit in a police uniform, the exact same one he met earlier. Last week he was impressed with the bunny. Now he just felt disappointment. He opened his junk drawer and tossed the newspaper inside, right next to the stack of denial letters from the ZPD.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;;;;;

"Clawhauser, do you know any clothes shop that has fox employees?" Judy asked.

"I know one that is owned by foxes," The chubby cheetah chuckled. "Wilde Style. Very well known to low and middle class predators."

"Why would that be?" Judy asked as she absently went through Furbook.

"Most high-end clothing stores decline service to predators without status," Clawhauser explained. "But Wilde Style is affordable to all and denied to no one. My sister and her husband had their clothes made their for their wedding." Judy would ask more about Clawhauser's sister and her wedding later. If someone he knew was serviced by them, the maybe he knew the fox she met earlier, if he worked for them.

"So you're acquainted with them?" Judy asked. The cheetah nodded and a donut fell from his neck and he scooped it up and popped it into his mouth. "And do they have a red fox with green eyes and a snarky attitude?"

"You mean Nick?" The cheetah said in disbelief. "He's co-owner of the store with his brother and mother."

"And you're sure that they are trustworthy?" Judy pressed.

"Of course!" The cheetah reassured. Then he became thoughtful for a second before adding," Nick may have some secrets. He used to be the smartest kid in school. Two years younger than me and he graduated valedictorian in my class. He went to community college and I didn't see him for six years, until I found him with his brother at the store." Judy was unconvinced that a family of foxes could run a successful business. She would have to visit the store herself and be the judge of the foxes. Tomorrow, because her feet were killing her and she wanted to get home before six.


	2. Parental Guidance

Maxis: *watching Kamen Rider Ex-Aid*

Judy: Hey dimwit, aren't you going to keep writing?

Maxis: Can't. Writer's Block

Judy: You do know that show is marketed to children, right?

Maxis: Isn't your movie marketed to kids?

Judy: We don't transform into brightly colored heroes in suits. Also, didn't you say your one shot would continue if it got enough support?

Maxis: No

Judy: You have to.

Maxis: Make me.

Judy: Nick! Get the battering ram!

Maxis: Aw sh-!

Chapter 2

Nick lay in his bed, counting the dots on the ceiling. He heard his brother's wife check on him in the last thirty minutes several times. They were worried about him. That lifted his spirits up a little. He sighed and turned on his side to face the far wall. It was hard to keep his promise to his father and to respect every mammal he meets when they don't respect him. His eyes landed on his junior ranger sash, which was filled with badges. He got every single badge possible, amazing both his scout leader and troop members. He was then discharged from the group by the junior ranger administration. Both his pack and his leader tried to keep him in their group, but the administration charged him with disorderly conduct with heavy evidence. He learned from his father that the only evidence that they had against him was that he was a fox.

His father only told him to hold it in and not let them see that they got to him. He stared at his sash for an uncertain amount of time until he heard a soft rap on his doorframe. He tilted his head down and saw his mother standing in the hall. She was a more feminine version of him, right down to the unnaturally fluffy scruff. She wore a pair of overalls over a white tank top that did not compliment her at all and .

"Come in," Nick sighed. The vixen closed the door behind her and moved to sit at the foot of his bed.

"Your brother said you came in angry, Nicky," she began after a minute of silence. "And usually you would have made Finnick rage by now, so I'm a little worried." Nick wasn't sure if talking with his mother was the best idea at the moment. She was a crude and unfiltered vixen that was a master at ruining conversations. Without trying.

"Just thinking," he decided to tell her. It was vague and relatively harmless, which is the best way to start a conversation with his mother. His mother readjusted herself so that she didn't have to turn as much to face her son.

"Nicky," she sighed. "The last time you were 'just thinking,' I found out you were denied by the ZPD nine times."

"Ten," Nick corrected.

"The point is," she continued, ignoring his interruption. "Is that whenever you say 'just thinking,' it means that you have something on your mind that is weighing you down. And as your mother, it's my duty to make sure that you're okay. So what's bothering your fluffy head?" Nick weighed his options that he currently had. He could legitimately tell his mother the truth and suffer scrutiny from his crude mother or he could lie and risk his mother's fury.

The last time he lied to her, which was when he was fifteen, his mother made him wear a dress for a week. And during prom. Nick decided that telling the truth was the best option because he did not want to see what his mother has planned for him after twelve years of peace.

"Mom, do you remember that rabbit officer that was on the news?" He asked the older vixen.

"Yep," his mother answered enthusiastically. "The cute one you wanted to rut, right?" And there she goes. A new record of only one sentence to ruin a conversation.

"This is why we can't have good talks, mom," Nick said flatly. "And just talking about her for one day doesn't mean I want to do anything like that with her."

"Well it's the first time you were ever interested in a girl," she retorted with a smug grin.

"Do you want to hear my problem or not?" Nick snapped. His mother put her hands up defensively.

"Geez, someone's touchy today," she grumbled. Nick felt less sad and more annoyed at this point. He held his hand up before she could even open her mouth again.

"Look, I met her today and let's just say I'm not very happy with the reaction I got from her," he explained. He deflated slightly as he continued. "I just thought that she, of all mammals, would understand how hard it is to climb that ladder as others tell you no."

"What did you expect?" His mother said as she pulled him up to a sitting position and turned him to face her. "We are foxes. And unless in some miraculous event that a fox does the public good, we will be only shifty criminals to them. I thought that if that's how they treat me, then that's who I will be. Then your father, may Karma bless him, taught me differently."

"'We are not limited by what we are, but what we do'," Nick sighed. "I know mom, but I just thought that I found someone who won't look fur deep."

"That's all we want," his mother said softly. "But if you do want to bang a rabbit, I have nothing against you. Female rabbits have hella nice hips." She gave him a toothy grin as he looked at her with a raised brow.

"Just when I thought you were taking this conversation seriously," Nick muttered with a light smirk on his muzzle.

"I am being serious," she said with a laugh. "I was all over the place. Your father was the only male I've ever been with, but I've had my fair share of succulent and curvy prey."

"Too much information again," Nick chuckled with a small jab from his elbow.

"If you're going to blame someone, blame your great-aunt," she replied with a small shove. She was still wearing a smug grin as she pat his shoulder. "Now that you're not as depressed anymore, care to help with the store?"

"I wasn't depressed," Nick responded with mock offense. "I was just thinking."

"That's my boy," she said. She stood from the bed and stretched out. Nick stood as well and heard several cracks along his back. His mother laughed at him and made a ton of terrible age puns as they went down the stairs. They may not be perfect, but family is family. And that was all right with Nick.

Maxis: MIGHTY ACTION X! *puts gashat into belt* Dai Henshin! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty Mighty Action- Ack! *battering ram hits Maxis in the midsection*

Nick: How did you throw that?

Judy: Anger and frustration, Nick. He spent hours running away from me while on his phone and he still hasn't written anything.

Nick: *checks phone* Hey look. Update on the one-shot.

Judy: Oops.

Maxis: Now since that fiasco is over, thanks for all the support. This was something that I wrote instead of doing A.P. Statistics class work and I posted it on a whim. I tend to work harder on stories with more support, so keep up the good work. Now I have to get an ice pack because a certain rabbit thought a battering ram was a good motivator!

Judy: Sorry!


	3. Bloody Frickin Parking Duty

Nick: Maxis, you never put disclaimers in your stories.

Maxis: And?

Nick: You could get sued

Maxis: Because I don't own Zootopia or any of its characters and I hope they make a sequel so I am sadly writing about it in my free time?

Nick: Man, if you weren't asexual, I'd tell you to get a girlfriend.

Maxis: Couldn't get one anyway

Judy: Isn't asexual a thing only for single cell organisms?

Nick: Asexual is also used to describe a usually sexually reproducing organism that feels no reproductive attraction to any gender. Dumb bunny.

Judy: Dead fox *pulls Maxis' gun from his holster*

Nick: Is that an S&W 500 Magnum?

Maxis: Crap, that was my emergency sidearm.

Nick: It's almost half her body size!

Maxis :D on't worry! She's too weak to lift it up!

*Points Magnum at Maxis*

Maxis: We run now.

Chapter 3

*meep!* *meep!* *meep!*

Judy rolled on her bed to reach her alarm clock that was ringing annoyingly loud at the moment. She slapped her side table fruitlessly until she eventually fell off the bed. She groggily sat up and glared at the small box with red numbers that was on her desk. She stood up and slammed her fist down on the off button. She forgot that she moved it so that she had to get up to turn it off. She trudged to her full length mirror and looked at the rabbit that appeared before her. She was disheveled, her fur matted in some places and sticking up in others. A mess. She wasn't even completely out of uniform. She still had her leg guards and a single arm guard on. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and began her usual morning routine.

At this point, it was almost like she was programmed to do everything. She felt numb. After a week of doing the same thing over and over again with no sense of joy of any part of her life, she had to make sure was still a living being. As she was putting on her uniform she noticed a photo of herself at her graduation ceremony. The bright smile brought her back some of her lost drive. She was not going to break. She tried to imitate the smile in her mirror, but it didn't reach her eyes. She could call her parents, but they wouldn't help at all. They would actually make her feel worse. She sighed as she snatched her orange vest from the hook next to the door.

She shuffled through the usual morning hustle as she got particularly rough shoves from animals she gave tickets to.

"I am a real cop," she muttered under her breath. She continued telling herself that as she continued to the front doors of Precinct 1. She gave Clawhauser a quick smile as she passed him at the front desk. Clawhauser was the only officer that has seen past the fact that she was a rabbit, but that isn't saying much since he was just a receptionist. She got to the bullpen where all of the field officers were laughing and joking with each other. Judy walked past all of them without a single glance and scrambled onto her chair. She slumped silently into her chair as she waited for Chief Bogo to enter the room. The chatter around her began to bother her.

Her ears flattened against her head as dangerous thoughts floated around her head. She just wanted quiet. She thought of very dark ways she could make it quiet forever, but she pushed those thoughts down to deal with never. Her ears perked back up again as soon as the cape buffalo walked in reading a clipboard.

"Alright!" Chief Bogo barked. "Shut your cans! I'll be announcing today's assignments!" The Chief began assigning the officers their duties for the day. Judy ignored him the whole time because she already knew what her job was already. "Hopps! Parking duty!" Judy sighed as she heard those dreaded words. There wasn't anything she could do at this point. All of the other jobs are taken by 'real' officers. And now she is considering herself as inferior. The words 'token bunny' echoed in her head and the image of a red fox with a smug half-grin appeared in front of her. She growled softly and muttered another one of Nick's quotes. "Prove them wrong."

:::::::::::::::::::

Another two hours of deprecating parking duty has passed and Judy has almost killed 10 mammals. It seems that everyday that passes, the more irritating the complaints get. Judy could predict what mammals are going to tell her before they open their mouths. The pig is going to say he was in a meeting that ran late, the sheep was catching up with a friend, and etc. It was predictable. Her life has become predictable. She wanted a life that was more exciting, not this monotonous excuse for an existence. She heard another familiar ding and trudged her way down the street.

She saw several mammals wearing similar outfits walk out of a bar and head to the car in front of the expired meter. She sighed as she realized she was going to be arguing with another gang. There was a timber wolf, a zebra, an elk, a badger, an armadillo, and a silver fox. Their outfits, in one form or another, had a blade that was sprouting wings.

"Who owns this car?" She asked the group. Most of them pointed at the elk and he rolled his eyes in annoyance. He stepped forward and scratched the back of his head.

"Well technically I was hustled into signing my name under registration," the elk said in a British accent. He shot the silver fox an annoyed glare and was treated with a smug half grin in return. Did all foxes have the ability to give smug grins naturally? "But it's a rental and-"

"Just get the bloody ticket or we're going to be late," The badger growled at him. The elk flinched away from her and held out his hand. Judy printed out the ticket and handed it the embarrassed elk.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, ma'am," the British fox said with a bow and an apologetic smirk. "But we really must be going. May I get a name?" Judy narrowed her eyes at the silver fox and tapped her foot in annoyance. Most likely going to report her or something along those lines. The fox noticed her silence and stood back up. "If you're suspicious about something than please be reassured that I just don't know who you are. I know every officer in the ZPD and I don't remember you."

Judy scrutinized him for several seconds before finally caving in. "I'm Judy Hopps, ZPD's first rabbit officer," she said with a small amount of pride. The fox nodded appreciatively and held out his hand.

"Well, pleasure to meet you, Officer Hopps," he said as she shook his hand tentatively. "I hope to see you again soon." Judy nodded and left the group as they got into their cars. That encounter was the most pleasant she would most likely ever get. She sighed as she heard a pig yelling and ranting down the street she already passed. Just one more hour before her break and she'll head to Wilde Style to check it out.

::::::::::::;::::::::::::

The silver fox got into the backseat of the elk's car with the badger. The other three operatives got into the car in front of them and the two cars began moving in different directions. Just in case someone was hunting them than at least half the team will get to the ZPD.

"Still can't believe I got a ticket on the first day," the elk sighed.

"Can it, Woods. I told you another quarter wouldn't hurt," the fox barked. His smile was gone and replaced with an annoyed grimace. He turned to the badger looking through officer profiles on a laptop. "Honey, is there a Judy Hopps in the files Chief Whines-a-lot sent us?"

"Negatory, sir," she answered in a crisp tone. "But I can get it."

"Good, get on it," the fox was thoroughly pissed off at the buffalo. All the files his poofy ass! Why the hell would he want to keep Judy's files away from them?

"Got it," the badger gave the laptop to her commander to look over. The silver fox just got more confused as he read on. Valedictorian? Broke most of the records in the academy? Recommended for ZBI? Why wasn't she already on the missing mammals case? 24 mammals missing and Chief Dumbass is sitting on a golden officer.

"Guys, we got our joint member," the fox said with a smile. The will ruffle Bogo's jammies. Now he just needs to convince an old trainee to join them.

Nick: I think we're safe in this bunker.

*Door explodes*

Judy: Here's Judy!

Maxis: *screams like a little girl*

Judy: *insert maniacal laughter here*


	4. Wilde Style

Maxis: If I owned Disney then the subtitle of Cars 3 would be Lightning McCrippling Depression.

Chapter 4

Nick sewed the last finishing touches on a very elegant wedding gown before putting it into a garment bag and giving it to the coyote across the counter. "There you go, miss. I hope that you two have a happy marriage." The coyote gave him a warm smile and went deeper into the men's formal section to find her fiancé. Nick was very satisfied with how his father's store turned out. It was everything he ever wanted and more. After a rocky beginning, the store is now on a competitive level with large clothing chains. After a few years of selling just formal clothes they branched off into making more casual clothes. Nick had designed most of them in his free time and he had a sketchbook full of ideas as proof.

He continued his current sketch after making sure no other customer needed his help. He started with the shirt, which had a very conservative design. He worked around the conservative concept. The sketch soon became a rabbit and before long, Judy Hopps was modeling his newest creation. "Damn you, mother," he growled under his breath. He also took notice how he accented the area around the hips. "Double damn you." He flipped to the next page and looked around for inspiration and saw the rabbit he just drew standing outside the door. And now Nick was seeing things. He felt mildly surprised when his apparition opened the front door. It took Nick a second to realize that the officer was real and had the sudden reaction to toss the sketchbook under the counter.

"Hello, Officer Hopps," Nick said behind a fake smile. "I thought I told you not to waste our time." The officer ignored him for a minute as she looked around the store. Her violet eyes eventually made their way to his green eyes and stared at him neutrally.

"Nice place," she said. "Kind of hard to believe it's owned by foxes." Nick narrowed his eyes at her as she gave him an easy grin.

"If you're trying to provoke me, it's not going to work," the red fox said dryly. "Now, what do you want?"

"Just checking the place out," the officer said as her eyes wandered around the store. "It has a real cozy feeling to it, you know?" Of course Nick knew. His father's original ideas were put in to make the store more inviting. Warm colors that make mammals feel at home. No fluorescent lights for sensitive eyes and different sized changing rooms. Everything that will make a mammal feel more comfortable in their own skin. But he hated how the rabbit said it in a mocking tone. He gripped the edge of the table and stopped himself from snarling. That rabbit could say anything she wanted, but as soon as she starts mocking his father's dream… Well, it won't be pretty. His leer was slowly evolving into more of a glare and the rabbit just stood there with a satisfied smirk on her face. They stared at each other for a while and Nick was vaguely aware of one of his employees approaching him and slowly backing away after seeing the tension.

"I think-"

"Hello there, miss!" Nick was cut off by his mother as she came out of the back room. She greeted Officer Hopps with a 'hustler' smile. "What exactly are you here for?"

"Well, I was hoping to buy a shirt," the rabbit said, changing her personality to a more polite one. "My friend said this place has great clothes at a reasonable price."

"We don't carry rabbit-"

"We'll get right on it!" His mother interrupted again with a sharp jab in the ribs. "Give us a few days and we'll have a few shirts I think you will love!"

"Well, thank you," the officer said with a genuine smile. She walked off and Nick noticed that she swayed her hips slightly as she walked. Nick was disturbed that he noticed this detail and had a horrific thought that he was becoming more like his mother.

"Nick, we need to talk," his mother said in a hushed tone. She waved the employee who walked away over and instructed him to take over until Sam got back from buying supplies. She then led Nick to the back room and placed both her hands on his shoulders.

"Nicholas," she said with a serious tone. "If you don't tap that, I will. And when I'm done with her, not even a ruler can make her straight again." Nick gave the older vixen a blank stare as she said this. He definitely was expecting this one.

"Mom," the todd began. "She was trying to provoke me."

"I heard flirting," she chirped back.

"When a female slaps you that's also considered 'flirting,'" Nick said flatly.

"Keep in mind that I did sleep with every female that slapped me," she said. "And what's not to like about that rabbit? She has drive, attitude, and hips that are truly divine!" It didn't take long for the vixen to space out and start daydreaming about the rabbit's 'divine' hips. Nick felt a strong vibration in shirt pocket and pulled out his phone. Thankful for the distraction, Nick detached his mother's arms away from him and answered the call.

"Hello, this is Nick Wilde of Wilde Style," Nick answered cheerfully.

"Hello, Knicker boxers," a cheerful voice said from the other line. Nick's mood immediately worsened after hearing that voice. Great, first officer stuck up and now this asshole.

"What do you want, Alex?" He growled into the phone. This annoying silver fox may have trained him, but that doesn't make him any less annoying. "I'm not in the mood for any jokes."

"So straight to the point then?" Alex said nervously. "Well I got some good news and some bad news. Good news, you might have a chance to get into the ZPD. Bad news, do you happen to know a florist named Mr. Otterton?"

Maxis: Murry Christmas everyone! Sorry if it's rushed a bit, kind of literally write when I have time on my Iphone.


	5. Happen Chance

Nick: Maxis, is my romantic rival my own mother?

Maxis: I plead the 5th and 1st

Judy: I heard someone plead the 5th. :D I can make them talk.

Maxis: First the battering ram, then the magnum, and now this.

Chapter 5

Alex Savage sat across from Precinct 1's chief of police inside what they call 'the bullpen.' The water buffalo glared at him as the silver fox spun a pencil in his hand while tapping his chin with the other. "Well, do you have a problem with the terms, Bogo?" Alex's amber eyes focused entirely on the buffalo's face. The buffalo gave a frustrated snort and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Are you telling me that you want a rookie officer and a fox that has been rejected 9 times-"

"Ten," Alex interrupted.

"- by the ZPD to be part of your main investigation group when you have the city's finest at your disposal?" The buffalo finished with a growl. The silver fox was amused by the buffalo's question and chuckled lightly.

"Pretty much." The buffalo's eye twitched and Alex swore he could hear a vein pop. The chief of police was at the end of his rope with the commanding officer of the Special Animal Service. The fox stopped his spinning and placed the pencil delicately on the table. "Does it bother you?" The fox's voice was taunting and an amused smile crept on his face.

"Very much so," the water buffalo growled. "And personally, I think you are an idiot. I asked for the best and all I got was a clown with a team of misfits that has no coordination. You are not fit to lead any investigation if you think that an officer that has barely started her career to take charge in a huge case. If you're trying to better the reputation of foxes than become a more productive member of society, not a special forces operative." Alex lost count of the amount of times mammals have told him that. It was a game for Alex to see how many repeats he could hear, but it got tedious after particular lines reached past 156. It didn't seem all that fair to Chief Bogo to mess around with him this much. Alex would also be fairly mad if he was a buffalo with barbed wire stuck in his ass and someone like Alex showed up as the cavalry.

"Well, I think you should replace Chef Ramsey from Kitchen Nightmares. Destiny has strange plans for us, don't you think?," the silver fox shrugged.

"I think you're more of a result of Karma, but I'm not sure what horrible thing I did to ever meet you," the buffalo responded dryly.

"Probably it was hiding Officer Hopps files from me," the water buffalo eyes widened in surprise at this comment and he backed down a little. "Than maybe I wouldn't have looked so hard."

"That is a violation of trust!" Bogo growled.

"Retaining information from a UN task force is treason and an international felony," Alex chuckled. "And you retained information from me, which means I can ruin your career with one report." The buffalo forced himself to relax as the fox leaned back into his chair with a victorious smile. "It's called a hustle, Bogo."

"Very well," Bogo grumbled. "I'll honor your decision if you don't put that in your report."

"Excellent," Alex purred. "Now I just need to find Officer Hopps again!"

::::::::::::::::::::

Judy stomped back into the precinct with a menacing scowl on her face. Clawhauser was about to greet her until he saw the pure anger in her eyes. She was so close to killing that damn warthog. So very close. But she settled on the fairly hefty fine he would have to pay for tossing a cup of hot coffee onto her uniform. Him also getting arrested by Wolford and Fangmeyer for other charges of assault was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. But now her fur and uniform was sticky and she swore that her vest was going to smell like coffee for weeks. This was the cause of her foul mood. Even so, the day went much better than expected.

Wilde Style was a surprisingly good store that far exceeded her expectations. She may have gone overboard poking fun at Nick, but it was definitely unintentional. Her mind shot back to when Gideon baked her a pie to apologize for his actions as a kid and she promptly threw it away in front of him. Looking back at it, even though the weighty fox said it was justified, doing it didn't really amount to anything good. Her whole life has been spent looking down upon and fearing foxes. It showed today when she made her second impression that of an anti-predator supporter.

She had to admit though, Nick was able to hold in his anger much more effectively than she could. If someone made fun of her farm, they'd have a hard time finding the body. But soon after her lunch a warthog decided that he should toss a cup of coffee on a police officer. After giving the slob a fine, Wolford and Fangmeyer showed and arrested him and told her to get cleaned up. Now she going to the gym showers to do just that. At least that was her plan until a familiar silver fox blocked her path.

"Hello, Officer Hopps," the fox said with his hands on his hips. "I thought that I was going to wait much longer for you to return."

"What do you want, sir?" Judy asked politely. The coffee was really sticking in her fur, but this fox was the only mammal to show her any courtesy and a couple of minutes won't change much.

"Just a few questions," he said. "First, how is your current occupation as a meter maid? Please answer truthfully." Judy stared at the fox as she tried to formulate an answer. She guessed that telling the truth would be her best option.

"Makes me question my choices in becoming a police officer," she said with a hint of anger.

"I see," the fox said. "And do you think you should get a better position?"

"I'm not going to answer that."

"Well, you're being transferred to my unit, regardless" The fox purred. Judy stared once again as he smiled at her. She was confused. There were no foxes in the ZPD or SWAT, so what special unit was this fox from?

"What unit?" Judy asked.

"The unit assigned the missing mammals case, of course," the fox said jovially. Judy froze. That was one the biggest cases that the ZPD has ever taken and she was being recruited for it? It was very hard to believe.

"H-how about other veteran officers? Wouldn't they be much better suited for the job?" Judy stammered. The fox gave her an amused smile and ruffled the fur on her head.

"Can you tell me which of those veteran officers broke more than twelve academy records and one Olympic record?" The fox purred. Judy couldn't think of any officers with a resumè like that. He pat her head and went on his way. "Meeting room 202 tomorrow. And don't smell like coffee, Honey might try to drink you." The fox went down the hall with his hand in his pockets as Judy stood dumbfounded at her sudden promotion. She still needed to fin out what exact unit the fox was, but it felt good. A smile slowly crept on her face as she continued to the showers. It seems Serenpidity was finally giving her the good accident she needed

Judy: Tell us now!

Nick: Carrots, water boarding someone with a helmet isn't very effective.

Maxis: I've been saying that for the last two days

Judy: Okay, let's see how much you like Iggy Azalea!

Maxis: No! Wait! Please! I can't take the stupidity!


	6. Mission Start!

Judy: Maxis owns nothing

Nick: And before you ask, he is definitely not in an abandoned warehouse being forced to listen to Iggy Azalea songs on loop.

Judy: Nick, do you want to get tortured too?

Nick: Shutting up now.

Chapter 6

Nick rifled through his clothes trying to find the rest of the gear Alex gave him a few years ago. He had the pants, belt, taser, and several other pieces of tactical equipment. After a couple more minutes of digging, he finally pulled out the shirt from the bottom of the drawer victoriously. The pants and shirt didn't look that special, just a matte black with two hardened plates over his chest, but they were resistant to small arms fire. And if the SAS was called in, then he was getting shot at. He fit the clothes snugly on his body and saw how strange he would look if he wore just the gear. He scanned his room until his eyes landed on a green Pawaiian shirt and he picked it up and put it on as well. The black pants still looked a bit strange with the bright green shirt and Nick found a pair of brown slacks that seemed to go well with it.

Nick was about to leave his room when he saw a blue tie slung over his desk chair. On an impulse, he grabbed it as well and quickly tied it around his neck. He hurried down the stairs and snuck past his brother at the sewing machine. He was almost at the door when a stern voice came from the men's section.

"Nicolas Piberus Wilde! You are not going out to hustle someone, are you?!" Nick jumped at his mother's exclamation and turned around to meet her burning glare.

"W-what?" Nick was utterly confused about why his attire was considered 'hustling' clothes.

"You know what what I'm talking about!" She growled as she stomped towards him. "A clothing style that allows to seem more approachable and professional. Why else would you wear a tie with a Pawaiian shirt of all things?! I invented this kind of stuff!"

"Christa!" A deep voice came from behind the angry vixen. Nick's mother turned and faced the diminutive form of Finnick, who was wearing a calm look and holding his hands up defensively. "Let the boy explain. He's smarter than that." He turned to Nick expectantly and crossed his arms. "You do have a reasonable explanation, right?"

"I was just going to meet up with Alex again," Nick said. He expected his brother to try and stop him, but at the moment he was not sure about his mother. "He came back for an operation and is including me on his team." Nick's mother's eyes narrowed at his attire and she gazed into his eyes, the burning emerald orbs intimidating him.

"Why those clothes then?" She asked dryly. Nick reluctantly unbuttoned his Pawaiian shirt and showed his mother the armoured clothing underneath. His mother relaxed and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Sorry about that. I just don't want you to make as many mistakes as I did. At least you're wearing protection. Your father wasn't-"

"Christa, let the boy go before the only thing that will make him sane again is a memory wipe," Finnick chuckled. Nick smiled at both of them and leaned in to hug his mother.

"I promise I'll come home. I will probably just watch from a van or something," Nick whispered into her ear.

"I know, my trooper," his mother responded softly. The red foxes broke apart and Nick left the store with a casual stride, not knowing that his mother was fighting back tears as she watched him go. Her husband made the same promise 11 years ago when he went missing.

:::::::::;;;::::::::::::::::

Meeting room 202 was a normal conference room with an oval table and swivel chairs of all sizes. Alex was currently lounging on one the swivel chairs across from Officer Judy Hopps. Judy was spinning around lazily in her chair as they waited for Woods, Shellon, and Nick to arrive. Alex has not told Judy and Nick about each other yet and is hoping that they would be effective together, besides all the prejudices and racial discrimination that was common in Zootopia.

"Come up with a call sign yet?" Alex asked Judy. Alex preferred that all the people he worked with have call signs to signal discreetly in a tense situation. Alex was Blade, Honey was Snake, Woods was Woods (he did not want a 'childish'nickname), Shellon was Plate, Sheila was Stripes, Darren was Fang, and Nick, against his will, was named Slick. He has been thinking of a call sign for the rabbit for the better part of an hour now and has turned up dry.

"Still thinking," Judy groaned. "How much longer until they get here?"

"They are getting our gear and special vehicles from the docks, so expect a delay."

"You dumped the paperwork on them, didn't you?" Judy asked rhetorically. The silver fox shrugged in reply. He just really didn't like paperwork. The two of them sat in silence for several minutes before the door of the meeting room slammed open with a large elk and an armadillo carrying strongboxes.

"A little help would have been appreciated," Woods growled at him. "Better than just sitting pretty here like you won Miss Universe."

"Bitch. I'm fabulous," Alex responded with a feminine pose. Judy erupted in laughter and Shellon chuckled lightly, already familiar with his commanding officer's antics. Woods looked marginally less amused and dropped the strongbox heavily on the ground.

"Why do I put up with this idiot?" The elk muttered underneath his breath. Alex was about to counter him when a new arrival beat him to the punch.

"Maybe because the amount of times he saved your ass?" The new arrival was his personal favorite trainee, Nick. Why the hell was he wearing a tacky-ass Pawaiian shirt with a tie was beyond the SAS operative, but that means everyone was in the police station. "Do you want to recall Bosnia?" The elk just scoffed and walked to a larger a chair and sat heavily in it with his arms crossed, mumbling angrily about tribal cannibals. Alex noticed that Judy spun her swivel chair to face away from Nick before Woods moved to his chair. A quick analysis revealed that Woods was blocking Nick's view of her. Nick was completely oblivious to the rabbit until she slowly spun the chair to face him.

"Hello, Mr. Wilde," she purred. Damn, she's good. Nick's head snapped towards her and his easy grin melted of his face.

"Please don't tell me I'm working with her," The red fox whined.

"Correction." Alex said. "We are working with her. We are a team. And teams put up with each other, because one day that person you hate might save your life. Isn't that right, Woods?"

"Ignoring!"

"So we're working with a carrot farming, country bumpkin, cop wannabe?" Nick asked with a slight edge to his voice.

"At least my mother wasn't checking you out!" Judy barked in reply. "I saw her staring at my butt!"

"Don't bring my mother into this, Carrots. You won't like it," Nick growled as he moved closer to the seated rabbit. Alex decided that now would be a good time to intervene. He hopped off of his chair and jumped over the table next to Nick.

"Will you look at that! You gave her the call sign I was looking for!" Alex put an arm around the angry fox.

"Wai-What?" Both opposing parties asked in unison.

"Carrots, perfect for our newest addition." Judy gave Alex a flat stare as she took a deep breath.

"No."

"I'll tell you Nick's call sign if you take it," The silver fox felt Nick tense under his arm and pulled away from him.

"Fine. Now tell me," the rabbit commanded. Alex could feel Nick's glare burning into the side of his face, but ignored it. They needed to tell her sooner or later any way.

"It's Slick," the silver fox said with a grin.

"Like Slick Nick?" The rabbit chuckled. She looked at Nick and shrugged. "At least we can make fun of each other's call signs." The red fox didn't look that mad anymore, just irritated. He sighed in defeat and went to a chair next to Woods. Now Alex just had to get the rest of the team. Honey was in the bathroom, but Darren and Sheila left without notifying him. Which now makes it Woods' job now.

"Woods," the fox said with mock sweetness. "Can you get Sheila and Darren? I believe the janitor closet is a good place to start."

Maxis: Sheila is a zebra and Darren is a wolf

Leon: How did you get here?

Maxis: I forgot my armour could cut rope around my wrist and got free while simultaneously foaming at the mouth and seizing.

Leon: Did you see the bright red tracking device on your shoulder?

Maxis: The what?

*Judy crashes through the wall in a tank**

Judy: TELL US NOW!

Nick: I didn't condone this.

Leon: And not my problem. *walks away*

Maxis: Where do you get this stuff?!

Judy: FIRE!

Maxis: Son of a-


	7. This Will Be Brief

Maxis: If I owned these freaks I would have made them stop!

Nick: I actually lost track of what's happening.

Maxis: Ha ha! Let's see your tank go up against my Guncannon.

Judy: I'll find a way to blast it to smithereens!

Nick: How'd Maxis survive a tank round in the first place?

Maxis: Goodbye. *KABOOM!*

Chapter 7

"So, did you two find anything in records?" Alex asked the zebra and wolf in front of him. Judy couldn't help but smirk as the two mammals purposely looked away from the small predator. Both of them looked very embarrassed and Alex was just reveling at their discomfort. "You two were in there for quite a while." When Alex explained that interspecies relationships were not looked down upon in the United Kingdoms, it took Judy by surprise. Even in Zootopia that kind of relationship was considered wrong and a whole country just shrugs at it. And then he told her that if both Darren and Sheila were missing to search with caution. She did not know why until Shellon explained that they would put her species to shame.

"Leave them alone, Socks. It's just a waste of time," Honey grumbled.

"It's fun though," Alex chuckled back. The badger simply raised an eyebrow at him until he finally sighed in submission. "Okay, everyone take their seats. Briefing's about to start." Most of the team was already seated except for the two he was talking and Shellon, who was rolling around in a ball. Alex looked around the room and nodded to Honey. The badger pulled a projector out from underneath the table and pointed it at the white wall. She pressed the button on top of the machine and 25 pictures appeared on the wall.

"These are the 25 missing mammals. All that connects them is the fact that they are all predators. Woods, Shellon, Sheila, and Darren, you take look around the general areas that the animals went missing. Me, Honey, Hopps, and Nick will follow the trail of the latest missing mammal." Judy sneaked a glance at Nick, who had a sour look on his face. "Any questions?" There was silence as the the rest of the SAS nodded and stood up from their four who were to search the areas began going through the strongboxes and pulling on tactical gear. Judy saw several firearms, mostly pistols. Her eyes widened as Sheila pulled out an RPG and strapped it onto her back.

"Uhhhhh," Judy wasn't sure what to say at this point. All the weapons that were in the strongboxes seemed to be lethal. Alex went to the strongboxes and pulled out a small pistol. He walked over to her and held it out, grip first.

"I hope you don't have qualms using guns," the silver fox said. Judy gently pushed the weapon away and shook her head.

"Sorry, I don't do guns."

"Slick!" Alex turned to Nick. "Are all you Zootopians an assload of pansies?"

"Well, maybe most civilians are run first and popping one into their adversary as a last resort," Nick answered with an eye roll. "Jeez, who raised you? A pack of primal wolves?"

"Rabbits," Alex chirped as he put the pistol in his hip holster. Both Judy and Nick stared at the fox, waiting for his punchline. He just looked at Judy and ruffled the top of her head. "I was raised by rabbits."

"You're joking," Nick said flatly.

"He ain't lying," Woods sighed from the doorway. "But you can ask him about it on during free time. We have a mission."

"Of course," Alex said as he pulled off his shirt. He pulled a sleeveless combat vest from a strongbox and secured it over his torso. "I'll tell you while we are driving." He began searching through the box some more and pulled out two strange looking pistols. "I think this will suit you guys more."

"What exactly is that?" Nick asked. The same question was on Judy's tongue as the silver fox spun both of them in his hands.

"These guns take a special ammunition that deploys into a small shock net. Don't expect the catch anything because the net is just to limit any impact damage. Six rounds a clip for .75 round tase nets."

"Are you even allowed to have those?" Woods asked from the doorway.

"Flirt with the scientist and she says it's a field test."

"I thought you had a girlfriend?" The guns stop in mid spin as the silver fox turned to glare at the elk.

"And this conversation is over." This was the first time Judy has seen Alex look angry. Woods seemed to have let something slip as the four other operatives looked confused. The elk left the room with the rest of his team following as Alex glared at his back.

Alex shoved one of the pistols into each of the Zootopians' hands. He then shoved four clips into their hands as he began rushing silently to and from the boxes. He pulled a pair of keys from the last strongbox and left three mammals dumbstruck in the meeting room.

"You learn something about him every day," Honey shrugged. Judy looked to Nick and caught him staring at her blankly. When she turned to look at him, his eye shot yo to her own and she found she could not maintain look into his vibrant eyes.

"Let's just leave," Nick said before jumping from his chair. Honey just nodded and grabbed a few more things from the strongboxes before closing and locking them. Judy followed them while inspecting her new weapon. It was kind of clunky and large, but it wasn't something she couldn't adapt to. The bullets were huge, almost as big as her thumb. She tried to find a place to put the gun and ammo until Honey gave her a holster that went over her shoulder. She didn't say anything, just moved to the red fox and gave him a larger one. The badger seemed to be contemplating something as she continued to mumble under her breath as she walked out to the parking lot. They went to a red car that had Alex sitting in the driver's seat. The three other mammals piled into the car, Honey forcing Nick and Judy to sit in the back together. Judy made sure to sit as far away from Nick as possible.

"Don't ask about my girlfriend," Alex growled as they buckled themselves in.

"How about if we do?" Honey asked. Judy sat right behind the honey badger and saw as the silver fox turned slowly to her. His usually warm amber eyes narrowed his pupils to pinpricks of darkness.

"I can get you to stop bloody talking. Fast," Honey turned away and looked forward.

"Can we ask about your family," Nick asked meekly. The other fox sighed as he put the car into ignition.

"Fine," he conceded. "Since I'm already pissed, I'll start with my asshole of a brother, Jack…"

Leon: Maxis and Judy are engaged in a pretty huge fight in space and cannot connect right now.

Cordelia: They had Gundam frames.

Leon: Anyways, there is going to be a story that Maxis will be starting that will star Cordy and I here. It will be an original idea, so check it out if you wish. Just don't expect as fast of updates.

Cordelia: He wants to see if the plot is interesting

Leon: Don't butt in

Cordelia: I can if I want.

Leon: Cut now before she does something stupid.


	8. Two Teams Twice the Mayhem

Maxis: Isn't it nice to finally relax?

Judy: Kind of is.

Maxis: How's the coffee?

Judy: Pretty good. How's that story you made up?

Maxis: Prologue is up. Chapter 1 is almost done.

Judy: Good. Good.

Leon: (In the background) WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE?!

Nick: I wake up in a destroyed Gundam in a burning city. What the heck happened?

Judy: Want coffee?

Nick: Sure. Do you have any creamer?

Chapter 7

"And that's how I found out the Worcesters were our relatives," Alex chuckled. "Jack got so pissed."

"By sleeping with their daughter?" Nick scoffed. They have been listening to tidbits about Alex's life as they searched the area where Mr. Otterton was last seen for the past four hours. They were currently having lunch while he was explaining how he accidentally slept with one of his adopted cousins. It was a great story accept for the stares that some mammals shot them were hostile.

"I was drunk," Alex shrugged as he took a sip of his cocoa.

"Did you always sleep with females when you get drunk?" Judy asked as she waved a piece of carrot cake in his direction on a fork.

"Jeez, just twice. Just because I was raised by rabbits doesn't mean I'm as bloody horny as one," Judy glared at the silver fox and he looked at her with a apologetic face. "No offense?"

"All of it already taken," Judy said flatly.

Alex sighed before jabbing a finger at the badger next to him. "And before you ever ask, Honey was the other one I slept with." Nick almost spat out his coffee and switched his surprised look between the two operatives. "Before you doubt me I have the scars to prove it."

"It's not my fault a sissy like you couldn't handle my claws," the badger grumbled. All three other occupants looked down at the badger's paws and the large claws that extended from them. She looked confused as they all raised a brow at her. "What?"

Nick looked outside the window as the other three mammals began an argument on the lethality of badger claws and saw a particular club that Mr. Otterton was a member of across the street. He didn't want any of the members of his team knowing about it, but someone in there must have information on him. Nick leaned back from his empty plate and tried to look casual as he executed a plan to separate himself from his team for a little while.

"As interesting as your endeavors are, Alex, I think the bigger matter at hand was the fact that we checked all the places that Mr. Otterton frequented recently and had no results." The three other mammals stopped their debate and looked at Nick as Alex sighed tiredly.

"Man, that was a mood-killer," he chuckled humourlessly. "Look, we don't find a missing mammal the instant we start looking for them. We have to find a lead and so far? We got some. That's good for a few hours of work."

"But we can do more," Judy shrugged. Alex turned to her curiously. "We can pursue some of the leads we already have and check if any of them are dead ends."

"That is actually very efficient," Honey mused. "We usually wait until all current possible trails are found before we exhaust them."

"I guess we can't tackle this like our usual cases," Alex sighed. "Kind of used to hunt and kill missions to tell you the truth. Not as time constrained." The rookie cop looked at Nick with a bit of fear in her eyes as she seemed to think she was surrounded by psychos. Nick shook his as if to dissuade her thoughts. The team may be a little tilted to be more on the brutal side, but they are still good mammals. Nick also thought about how he could use Judy's idea to get some information.

"We could all split up and tackle several leads at once," Nick suggested casually. If this worked out like he planned than maybe there was hope for Mr. Otterton. Alex and Honey pondered this a bit before finally nodding in agreement.

"Fine, we'll split into two groups-"

"How about four?" Nick interrupted. He wanted to pursue his own lead by himself. Alex clicked his tongue while shaking his head.

"Nicky, did you forget about Adrian already?" That made him rethink his whole plan. Adrian was a SAS officer who always went solo and went missing for several months. They found his bloody gear gear and weapons near his last known area and just posted his death on a serial killer's long rap sheet. Ever since, the SAS has made a rule that the lowest number a team could be was two. Adrian trained with Alex and left an impact on the team. This was an SAS mission. Nick grumbled in agreement as Alex gave him a quick smirk before continuing. "The two groups will be me and Honey and Nick and Carrots."

"Why am I Carrots and he keeps his name?" Judy whined. Nick didn't say anything. He was completely fine with this. He didn't trust Honey enough to crawl into a dark building with her and several hours alone with Alex will drive him insane.

"Carrots sounds better than Officer Hopps," Honey grunted.

"I agree," Nick chirped in. Judy snapped her head towards him with a glare. He just shrugged and watched as Alex and Honey slide out of the booth.

"We'll go our separate ways, for now," Alex said. "If you guys start following the same lead as us, find a different one. That's you orders and hopefully I'll see you in the morning." The fox and the rabbit watched the two armed mammals leave and looked at each other.

"So, Slick," Judy put a lot of emphasis on his call sign. "Which lead should we follow." Judy pulled out her notepad filled with information on the case. Nick was debating whether to "accidentally" end up at their true destination or be straight forward with the cop. He decided to just be straight forward since there was no sane and non-embarrassing reason to go into the club.

"Actually," Nick said hesitantly. "I think I have a new lead."

"Really?" Judy asked as she flipped to a new page on her notepad. "If you think it's better than what we have, Slick, than let's try it first."

"Sure, Carrots," Nick pointed at the club across the street. "Ever heard of Mystic Springs Oasis?"

Leon: What, in the name of all that is holy, happened here?!

Judy: Giant mech fight

Leon: You destroyed Kansas City!

Maxis: Serves them right! Narcissistic bastards named a city after their state.

Nick: Don't look at me! I was knocked out!

Leon: Are you idiots at least done fighting?

Judy & Maxis: Armistice

Leon: Oh dear Lord


	9. Naturalists

Maxis: I don't think putting the nuke in the bunker is the way to go.

Judy: Very uncivilized, trying to shove us in there! You know we have rights!

Leon: Like how Kansas' entire population wants to kill you two? Those people had rights to their homes!

Maxis: At least we warned them

Leon: Please just get in the bunker

Chapter 8

Judy looked at the building with little interest. It was well maintained, which was good. It didn't have any shady looking people hanging around it. Fine. But there was no way this place was an oasis.

"Well," Nick coughed. "Welcome to the Springs."

"Riveting," Judy spat sarcastically.

"You don't know the beginning of it," the fox sighed as his ears drooped. It was strange that he almost seemed reluctant to enter. He took a deep breath and pushed through the door. The front desk area was definitely designed by a hippie. The yak behind the counter looked like one, that's for sure. Nick walked up to him and tapped nervously on the desk.

"Hey, Nick," the yak said in a laid back voice. "If you're wondering, your mother hasn't stepped foot in her ever since that rhino incident." Nick slapped his palm to his face and let it slowly slide down.

"We didn't need to know that," Nick grumbled.

"But I remember you specifically telling me to tell you whenever your mother does something dumb after she had intercourse with that leopard on her eighteenth birthday," the yak recounted innocently. Nick groaned and held a hand up in front of the yak's face.

"Please, just tell us when's the last time you saw Mr. Otterton."

"Police business," Judy popped in.

"Well I couldn't tell you," the yak said with a shrug. "But his driver left his car information on the desk last time. It was a copy that Emmit needed to get verification of being a patron of that driver, at least that's what he told me."

He stepped out from behind the counter and revealed his completely naked body.

"Sweet Cheese and Crackers, you're naked!" Judy exclaimed as she covered her eyes.

"Of course I am!" The yak said cheerfully. "Didn't Nick tell you that this is a naturalist club?" Judy gave a sidelong glare at the fox, who was simply grinning contently.

"No," Judy strained between grit teeth. "But he's going to learn a lesson or two by the time this mission is over."

"Hey," Nick shrugged. "You never asked."

"Do you want to stay here officer?" The yak asked politely. "I mean, we respect it if you feel uncomfortable."

Judy took one look at the fox's smug face and decided to suck it up. "Nope, it's okay."

"Okay," the yak opened the door to reveal a beautiful indoor park. The only thing that ruined the view was the fact it was filled with naked animals. "Just follow me to the back room with the files."

Nick strolled in after him while Judy inhaled a deep breath and counted to ten. She might as well. She continued after them and was surprised by the fact that most mammals were engaging in very normal activities, just naked. They continued walking until someone tackled Nick.

"Roomy!" The feminine voice shouted. "It's been almost three months since I last saw you!" The ball of fur stood back up and Judy saw that it was definitely was a female hyena with one huge problem. The thing hanging between her legs. Judy stared in stun silence as even the yak turned away from the hyena and began walking towards a far corner of the park.

"Hey, Alyssa," the fox said. He purposely kept his eyes on her face. "You know you could always visit the store, right?"

"We were traveling!" The hyena exclaimed. "We didn't have the time."

"We were at the Olympics," a voice said behind Judy. She turned to find an arctic fox with just boxers on with his arms crossed on his chest. "She won gold for the hammer throw."

"Let me guess, Silva, you calculated the perfect formula to get her to throw it farther?" Nick chuckled.

"I did, but she didn't listen," the fox sighed.

"Hey, at least I won!" The hyena protested. Judy couldn't help but noticed her extra part as she bounced as indignation. The hyena noticed and gave Judy a sly smirk. "Roomy, I think your girlfriend is checking out mah dick."

"It is not a penis," both foxes said simultaneously. "And she's not my girlfriend," Nick added.

"You're just jealous because mine is bigger," Alyssa grumbled. Silva took a few steps closer and leaned close to the hyena's ear.

"I can disprove that tonight, if you want," he whispered to her. Judy wished at that moment that she didn't have such strong hearing. She glanced at Nick and saw his mortified face that would've made her laugh at any other occasion, except she probably shares the same expression on her face. Someone cleared their throat behind Judy and she was surprised to find the yak had returned with a file that he held out to her.

"Sorry I couldn't do anything else, officer," he said. "I hope this helps." Judy looked at the file as a ticket to her salvation. She grabbed and looked at Nick, who shared her relieved expression.

"Well as fun as this little reunion has been," Nick told his two friends with an easy smile. "Me and Carrots here have a mission to finish."

"Ooh, ooh!" Alyssa bounced excitedly. "Tell me all about when it's over, okay?"

"Good luck," Silva said with a small salut. Nick gave a quick nod to both of them before leaving. Judy followed with the file and they stood outside the naturalist club in silence for several minutes.

"How-"

"I'll tell you at a different time in a more private place," Nick said flatly.

Maxis: House Renovations take up a lot of time, especially when walls come out.


	10. Murder

Maxis: I have no regrets, except maybe setting the toaster oven on fire.

Leon: Why am I not surprised?

Maxis: Because Judy set the van on fire yesterday.

Leon: Thanks for reminding me, prick.

Chapter 9

Alex and Honey walked up to the door of the last house on their list. Alex adjusted his badge so that when someone opened the door they could clearly see he was not a terrorist or a "special officer to arrest a naughty girl." Honey loved the second event. Alex knocked on the door and it swung open with a creak. The two SAS officers looked at each other before both drawing their side arms. Alex entered at point and he immediately smelled a strong scent of blood. A lot of it. Alex signaled Honey to keep a distance and continued inside. He followed the scent upstairs to one of the rooms that was slightly ajar. Alex moved to the side of the door and pushed it open slowly as to not trigger any traps. The door moved smoothly until it hit a wall with a soft thud. Alex peaked into the room and saw that while there was no hostiles, the room was occupied.

"Clear!" He called out to his partner. The honey badger slipped out one of the other rooms with a nod.

"Rest of the rooms are clear as well." The two operators entered the room and surveyed the scene in front of them. There was a ram with a hole in the back of his head and a spider web crack in the computer screen in front of him. The silver fox stuck two fingers into the back of the ram's head and pulled it out without any brain matter.

"Looks like the killer got into his head," Honey commented. Alex shook his fingers off and wiped it on the ram's wool.

"This is new," Alex muttered. All other murders connected to the case similar to the one they were currently on didn't have mammals' brains being emptied out. Alex looked around at the desk and noticed that the keyboard was slightly lifted on one side. He picked it up and saw a folded piece of paper underneath it. Honey checked over his shoulder and picked it up. She unfolded it and looked at the contents.

"Project Genesis?" She read. "That can't be right. That project never was approved."

"What else is there?" Alex inquired.

"A name." Honey muttered. Her brow raised as she looked the name over several times. "Freya Alexandria Morren. It's circled and has the word 'key' written underneath it." A dead project and a name. Not much to go on. The two began to poke around the room for anymore clues with no luck. The computer's hard drive was torn out as well as the file drawer of the ram's desk. The two operators continued to search around the house for anymore evidence with no luck. All evidence was mostly likely destroyed or taken except for the slip of paper.

"Get clean up here," Alex growled. Honey nodded and called for CSI to clean up the scene. He looked at the paper in his hand and tucked safely away into his pocket. "Call the teams back as well. We need to regroup and find out exactly what we're going up against."

Meanwhile…

"You got any fives?"

"Go fish."

"You never seem to have anything I need!" Judy barked indignantly. Nick looked down at his cards and saw that he had mostly face cards and a six. While what Judy said was not entirely true, she did take multiple cards from him, he didn't seem to have the card whenever she asked for it and drew it the turn afterwards.

"Do you have any sixes?"

"Serendipity Damnit! I just drew the f****** thing!"

"Can … I ….Play?"

"Flash! You better have found that car or I will make your death so fast that it will take you a week to realize you're dead!" The sloth slowly backed into his chair in fear and continued typing slowly. Nick's phone rang and he picked it up and answered.

"Yello?" Nick listened to Woods berate him for being late for a little bit and hung up the phone and turned to Flash and snapped in front of him. "Hey Flash, look! Priscilla is waving at you!"

"Really?" While Flash slowly turned to the other sloth, Nick hopped over the desk and quickly typed on the computer and a slip soon printed out. Nick was already back over the desk by the time Flash turned back and had the slip in his hand.

"Thanks for the help Flash," Nick said as he backed away. Nick turned to Judy and saw her glaring at him again. "What?"

"You could've done that the whole time?!" She growled. Nick held his hands up in surrender as she stepped closer to him. "We've been here for four hours! And we weren't even in line! Do you know why?! Mr. Slackoff wouldn't stop telling jokes to slowpoke over there!" She jabbed a finger at Flash who was helping another customer.

"You looked like you needed a breather," Nick reasoned. The rabbit twitched and Nick noticed that her eyes tried to bore holes into him.

"I have worked too hard to get here, Slick. I won't let you take this away from me." Nick raised a brow at her and almost laughed in her face.

"At least you got something out of it! I couldn't move to a higher edge college because I'm a predator! At least you can be whatever you want to be while I help run a clothes store with my mother."

Nick watched her slowly deflate and he felt a tinge of regret. "I'm sorry," he said. "I will admit that I am kind of jealous of you." The rabbit looked at him as he turned away. He pushed down his feelings again and looked back up at her with his easy smile back on his face. "But never mind that! We're late for a team meeting. Getting emotional will have to wait later, Carrots."

Judy shook her head and took the slip from his hand. "Woods sounded pretty angry. Was it because of us?"

"Nah," Nick chuckled. "We are now bringing in the ZIA into our little investigation. And Woods hates them."

"Are you okay with them?"

"Silva's aunt is the director right now, so I'm pretty acquainted."

At ZIA headquarters

Judy looked at the assorted mammals in the room. Alex had his arms crossed on the table with his head resting on them. Shellon was rolling around again, Woods was brooding, Darren and Sheila were playing footsies under the table, Honey was working on her computer, and Nick was playing a memory game with the deck of cards he apparently always brings with him. They told the team to wait in here until the Field Director arrives about thirty minutes ago. Judy was sure that the Field Director would be like Nick and was probably slacking off right now. As she thought this, the door opened to reveal an arctic vixen with an eye patch and a cane.

"Welcome, SAS and ZPD, I am Director Skye Summers and I expect all of you to accept your roles as my subordinates," she said in an even tone. Woods sulked even farther into his chair while everyone else sat at attention.

"You seem chipper this morning director," Alex yawned as she glared him down. "Period finally over?"

"First order of business is to report Operator Alex Savage missing when I kill him."

"Love you too." Judy felt her hand go to her face as she reviewed her situation. What did she get herself into?

Maxis: Whoever can guess where the brain scene is from gets a ZIA agent OC. (And no, it is not Scanners).


	11. ZIA

Maxis: Congrats reaperjf, GUNSLINGER99, stubob72556, glfran, and Frostsilverhand. It was the beginning of the outpost scene from Starship Troopers.

Leon: Now all we need are your animals, personalities, and preferred style of combat. These 5 responded first and got it right.

Maxis: I still regret nothing

Chapter 10

Nick heard Shellon whistling a funeral theme beside him as the arctic fox began to limp around the table to Alex. Nick knew Skye when they were younger. She was not the hardened veteran before him now. She was Silva's cousin and would often hang out with Nick, Silva, and Alyssa. Skye was the most mischievous, underhanded trickster that Nick knew. At least she used to be. Her one good eye was cold and unforgiving. Her constant smile was now a deep scowl. She wasn't the Skye he knew anymore. She slapped the back of Alex's head and continued around the table in silence until she sat at the head of the table.

"Anymore comments?" She hissed. Shellon stopped his whistling and sat in a position ready to curl into a ball. "Good. Now it has come to my attention that someone was killed in a very peculiar manner. An over enthusiastic lobotomy, if I'm not mistaken."

"It wasn't an enjoyable sight," Honey muttered from across the table.

"Of course it wasn't," Skye replied flatly. "It was done by a serial killer that I have been hunting for. He usually takes the victim's brain, no explanation why."

"Maybe he's decorating for Halloween?" Alex suggested lightly. Skye glared at him from across the table and growled softly. Nick, due to his sharpened senses and dealing with his mother's pranks for years, noticed a slight twitch of her nose.

"It seems you learned your lesson from last time, Alex," she growled. "You put more space between us this time. Don't think it will save you." Nick noticed Shellon scooting in a direction farther from the arctic vixen. Woods snorted again and crossed his arms. Alex just leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head. Sheila and Darren were just nuzzling each other on the side. Judy was sitting with a blank expression on her face with her eye twitching periodically. Honey looked up from her computer and rolled her eyes.

"Can we at least get through the meeting before you two start romping each other silly?" The badger sighed as she pulled up her computer screen on the projector. Skye glared at the silver fox for a few seconds, who surprisingly actually broke eye contact. She finally gave a discontented growl and leaned back in her chair.

"Fine," the arctic fox gestured to Honey. "Tell us what you found."

"Good. Now that the distractions have been temporarily avoided, we can discuss the name we found. Freya Alexandria Morren. I did a thorough search of your population database and found no one registered under that name." Nick felt a slight nagging at the back of his head. The name Morren sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where he heard it from. He pushed it to the side and decided to deal with it later.

"Did you try looking for anyone close to it?" Woods asked. Honey nodded and pulled up a list of mammals.

"Of course I did, Frank," she said as she hovered over each name. These mammals didn't have the history to be included in such activities. Many of them are small rodents with simple backgrounds. The others I have done extensive background checks with no connection."

"How extensive?" Skye inquired with a raised brow.

"Illegally extensive. There are some affairs that I uncovered and have sent the evidence to their respective spouses."

"Excellent," she purred. "Anything else?

"Not that I can think of," Honey growled. Nick could see her frustration by the lack of intel. Her frown was tighter than usual and her claws tacked rapidly on the table. "Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. No prints. No DNA. No Data. This was professional."

"Unfortunate. My mother has a team working on gathering more about our victim's past. It's going slow."

"Then we need to keep looking," Woods concluded.

"Yes," Skye confirmed. "I also have a ZIA support team that will back you up. You are well acquainted with them Woods."

"Then I guess meeting adjourned?" Alex asked.

"Not for you, Savage. We still need to talk. In my office."

"Okay, this has been a strange meeting, per usual," Shellon said with a cheerful voice. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll going back to normal people." He hopped off of his chair, opened the door, and rolled out of the meeting room.

"I'm not going to deal with Alex's body bag," Woods sighed and stood up. "I'm going to see if they have anything good in the cafeteria today."

"I'm coming," Judy said and looked at Nick expectantly. Nick was surprised. Was she expecting him to join her? It took a second to realize that Nick was the mammal she was most familiar with and would be more comfortable around him than any other member of the team.

"I'll come, too," Nick said. Woods nodded. As Honey stood up from her chair.

"I need more research," she mumbled to herself as she left the room. The three other mammals looked at their commanding officer with a mix of emotions. One was questioning, the other was pitiful, and the last one was neutral.

"I have some things to attend to, so wait in my office for a little bit, Savage," Skye said as she looked over a tablet. Alex looked a little concerned, but left the room without a word. Woods, Nick, Judy watched as he turned and the last they saw of him was his trailing tail. The three of them turned the other direction in the direction of the cafeteria.

"So, Frank. How was your search?" Nick said once they were a good distance away from the meeting room.

"Oh God please, no," Woods muttered. Judy chuckled and joined in the "Frank" game all the way to the cafeteria, at Woods' expense of course.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alex sat in Ms. Summers office playing with the pendulum on her desk. He didn't touch anything else to not incur the wrath of the angry vixen. Or maybe he will. She had a rather large office. It was able to accommodate a coffee table and a full size couch, while his office could barely fit his desk. Figures. It was in modern design, which he found to be boring. Modern art was pretty lazy. The desk was familiar. It was his desk from his adopted father that he gave her after her promotion. It was the only thing that wasn't black and red, but the mahogany still fit the dark motif. His observations were interrupted by the vixen herself entering the room. She was a sharp contrast to the dark room, but her expression was not as bright as her fur.

"Director Summers," he said as he stood up. She said nothing as she limped up to her desk and approached him. Without a sound, she pinned him to the and began to choke him.

"Why do have you make things so hard, Savage?" She hissed into his ear. Her grip tightened and Alex saw darkness creeping in the edges of his sight as he tried desperately to breathe. She pulled him down to her level and smashed her muzzle against his. Her grip loosened and the silver fox fell to floor.

"Cause I know how you are," Alex responded between breaths. She leaned over him and licked the top of his head.

"And I know how you are," she purred back. Alex nuzzled the side of his mate's muzzle affectionately as he purred back.

"We can test my breach and insertion tactics on the couch?" he suggested.

"After two months? I hope you're ready for a challenge," she whispered as she pulled him up.

Maxis: Yeah… Nope. :::::::::

Nick studied his food curiously. The fish was fine, the mashed potatoes were good, and the fruit cup was a bit lacking in blueberry count. So what was up with this poor excuse for an apple tart?

"Alexandria Morren?"

"Tried that three times." Nick glanced briefly at Woods and Judy as they continued searching up a name. Nick stopped after getting his second tray of food and was currently studying the piece of crust that passed for dessert. Two hours of work spent on finding a name. Nick wondered what the nagging feeling on his mind was and was slightly frustrated by the dead end.

"What in the hell do they expect us to find with a name and project Genesis?!" Judy growled. Nick's head shot up at the mention of project Genesis. Why wasn't he given this piece of information? Morren and Genesis were very obvious connections in the biological stage.

"Freya isn't American," Nick said as he slammed his hands on the table. A rush of memories flowed through his head. He singled out an image of a small red vixen and a silver fox smiling together for a Noble Peace Prize. There was the Union Jack on the sleeves of their lab coats. "She's British. Search up Maya and Mason Morren." Woods complied and his eyes widened as he saw at who he was looking at.

"Are you saying that the sterile Maya Morren could have had a daughter?" Judy asked incredulously.

"There is a chance," Woods mused. "Genesis was meant to alter DNA in a revolutionary way. Even though government backing was cut, private donors were still welcome to keep the project alive in secret. She could've genetically engineered her eggs to be fertile."

"We need to tell the Director about this," Judy said as she stood from her chair.

"I have an idea where her office is," Nick said as he stood as well.

"I'll stay here," Woods said firmly. "I've enough of Alex and Summers for a day." The two smaller mammals jogged through the hallways with Nick leading the way. They eventually made it to a black and red door, which they opened without hesitation.

"Director Summers- OH SWEET MOTHER OF KARMA!" Nick was cut off as he witnessed the Director with Alex in a compromising position. The silver fox looked thoroughly embarrassed while the Director looked slightly amused.

"It seems I forgot to lock the door," she commented flatly.

"The scary thing is," Judy said with no surprise in her voice. "I was half expecting this."

Leon: Maxis, you almost changed the rating of this story. You know that, right?

Maxis: PEREGRINE PICKLE GOT IN A PICKLE BECAUSE HE TRIED TO STICK HIS PICKLE IN SOMEONE'S SISTER!

Leon: Oh yeah, AP Literature test.

Maxis: The numbers, finches! Tell Darwin what the numbers mean!

Leon: And biology. Okay. Two characters in this story have their names connected. It is an Easter egg of a video game that will help you discover Alex's middle name.

Maxis: Chi-squaaaaaaaaaaared!


	12. Give me a break, no title

Leon: What is Alex's middle name?

Maxis: Another hint. The numbers.

Leon: What does that mean?

Maxis: Perfect.

Chapter 11

The weasel sneaked away from the cafeteria and pulled out his phone. He made sure no one was following him and he slipped into a maintenance room. It was dark and crowded, but he dared not to turn on the light. He dialed the number he needed to contact and held the phone close to his face.

"Yes?" A distorted voice crackled from the receiver.

"I have information," the weasel whispered.

"Very well," the voice responded. "Out with it." The weasel listened outside for any footsteps before responding. It was completely silent.

"They are searching for a female of British origin," he whispered. "I couldn't catch a name. Woods was looking around looking like a hawk. It may have been evidence your special operative' left." There was a long silence on the other end as the weasel waited apprehensively for a response. A cackle was the response he got and he flinched away from phone.

"Good," the voice said smugly. "That's all I need."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Judy pulled Nick out of the room with a sharp tug. Director Summers was completely unfazed by this and snorted as Judy closed the door. Alex looked like he wanted to melt because he blushed so hard that his fur was almost red. It was hard to imagine the sweet talking, womanizing, commander blushing like a teenager being found by his parents. But now she could hold it over his head for a while. She glanced at Nick's stupefied face and did the only thing she could do in that situation.

*SNAP!*

Nick looked at Judy with her phone pointed at him and his eyes widened. "Carrots!" He jumped for her phone. The rabbit ran away from him with a joyous laugh. There was no way he was going to delete this. Nick was actually quite close to catching Judy, her only real advantage being her size. She slid under tables as Nick needed go around them. Some ZIA agents gave them strange looks and shrugged it off. They were probably used to this type of thing. The eventually started to tire and Judy changed her course so that they eventually would end up at Director Summers' office. When the distinct red and black door got close enough, she stuffed the phone into her padded chest plate and dolphin dove in front of it. Judy felt the rectangular impact as she landed and winced. Definitely going to bruise.

"Give it!" Nick jumped on top of her and bruised her even more. She squeaked in surprise when his hands tried prying her off the ground. She squirmed in his grasp heavily until the door opened again to reveal a fully clothed director.

"At least we had the decency to get ourselves a room," she said flatly as she looked down on them. She then pulled out her own phone and snapped a photo. She looked down at the photo and gave a small smirk. She looked back at her victims and motioned for them to come in. Judy sighed and looked to the heavens as Nick got off of her.

"Oh, Karma," she said. "Thou is a heartless bitch."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::On a different celestial plane…

A midnight colored vixen sat in LaZboy with a bowl of Doritos and a soda drinking hat filled with Mountain Dew. Leon watched as she mercilessly slaughtered hundreds of players in Call of Duty with her tongue cutely sticking out of the side of her mouth. Leon felt a sense of Deja Vu and slight PTSD as she equipped a riot shield and LMG and was objective camping by going prone with the riot shield on her back while shooting player's ankles.

"She's not wrong," Leon commented as she got only knife kills in Gun Game. "Not wrong at all."

::::::::::::::;::::;;;::;;::: Back on this plane

Nick entered the room before Judy did. He couldn't believe that he lost his cool like that! What did he care if a dumb rabbit had a picture of his surprised face? He acted unprofessionally and embarrassed himself as a result. His mother had a million even more embarrassing photos and he never had that reaction. He felt embarrassed when she took that picture, something he hasn't felt in a long time. The last time was when his mother made him wear a dress to prom.

It at least wasn't as bad as Alex's situation, which was currently lounging on the couch with a blank expression on his face. He was now wearing all of his gear, bar the vest. He was wearing the sleeveless Kevlar shirt that he keeps in his ammo pouch and his vest was currently being worn by Director Summers. That's an awkward reminder of the scene they bore witness to mere minutes ago. She was currently patting Judy down with a bored expression until she roughly shoved her hand into her breastplate and pulled out her phone with a raised brow.

"The one place a male can never touch without being prosecuted," the arctic fox said with a tint of humor. She gave a Nick a knowing glance and the red fox realized that he might not be seen in the best light. Alex scoffed which earned him a full smile from his partner. Director Summers closed the door behind Judy and settled at her desk.

"So," the fox said with a slight edge to her voice. "What was so important that you barged in here while me and my boyfriend were catching up?" Nick stared at the blue flecks of her eye and was frozen in place. Gone was the fun loving vixen that was his friend all those years ago. In some ways, she was more intimidating than . At least you knew what he's capable of.

"We might have a lead on the name Alex f-found," Judy stammered out. Director Summers turned her head to and gave her a warm smile.

"Finally, interrupted by good news," she purred. Judy flinched as her purr was not as smooth and comforting as Alex's, it was actually more menacing. "So, what is it?"

"She might be British," Nick said. "The Morren couple were part of the Genesis project, something that might allow a barren vixen like Maya Morren to have kits." Nick waited to be berated by such an outlandish comment, but Director Summers seemed to be taking it into serious consideration.

"Fine, Nicky," she said with her old hustling grin. "Where should we start?"

Maxis: Four years for a piece of paper and a handshake…

Leon: I'm leaving.

Maxis: is that today?

Leon: Karma is tugging on me harder than in a toy store, I have to go. Congrats, by the way.

Maxis: But I don't want to be an adult…

Leon: Deal with it


	13. On the radar

Maxis: Has life ever Ultra Comboed you so hard that you couldn't stand straight? Maybe? Well it happened to me, but I was able to recover enough to write this. I'm going to tell you the truth, this chapter was two paragraphs long before December… plz don't kill me.

Chapter 12

Woods clicked delete on all the files that he selected. They couldn't find Freya. Not even the ZIA. No one can know. The last copies of the files were saved in an unexpected place, MI6 level secrecy. He had to keep this secret. He's been protecting Freya for years and he was not going to release the whereabouts of his charge so easily.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nick watched as the ZIA team and SAS team squabbled over van space in the parking lot. Skye thought it would be a good idea to bring her old team on the mission. Not the best idea. Apparently these two teams had history that no one wanted to talk about. After the discovery of two of his friends relationship, there was a definite flirtyness to their fights. Including Skye smacking Alex on the hindquarters with a baton whenever she passed him. Very inconspicuous, per usual. Everyone else would shove each other roughly with no attempt to hide their actions.

"This can't possibly end well," a small grey bunny sighed beside him. Nick chuckled as a skunk tripped Shellon, who rolled up into a ball as soon as he hit the floor. The two newest members of the ragtag group were sitting in the car that Alex rented as they waited for the rest of the operatives to finish

"Ah, we're all going to die, aren't we?" Nick said with a smile. Judy just watched a small coyote load up RPGs into one of the vans.

"Yep," the rabbit sighed. A hare snapped at Sheila and was promptly kicked clean across the parking lot. "I think we'll all kill each other before the end of the day." Nick was about to say something witty when a car rolled up to the set of vehicles. This would've been normal except for the fact there was no license plate on the car. Director Summers noticed it as well and turned to it.

"Who the -" CRACK! The ZIA Ditector was cut off by a gunshot that sent her flying backwards. The car veered out of parking lot as the SAS members began immediately attending the director.

"COMMANDER!" Three of the ZIA operatives yelled simultaneously. They all jumped into the only car that was already started. The one that Judy and Nick was in. The skunk got into the passenger's seat, the coyote pushed the two confused mammals over to make room for a box of grenades for a mounted grenade launcher.

"Hope you don't mind a little noise," he growled. Nick and Judy both gave each other panicked glances before the raccoon in the driver's seat floored the gas and they both simultaneously reached for their seatbelts. They were quickly gaining on the assailant's car due to the racoon's erratic driving. The skunk pulled a police light bar for undercover cars out of his bag and turned it on. He placed it on the dashboard as they neared their target. The coyote and skunk pulled pistols from their vests and rolled down their windows.

"Aim for the tires!" The raccoon barked. The two other mammals shot at the tires of the car and they popped almost immediately. The car swerved into the sidewalk and two coyotes and a wolf rolled out of the car and started running down the sidewalk. The skunk and coyote jumped out of the car and ran after them. The raccoon leaned back in his seat and looked back at the two scared mammals. "So. How's it going?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;::::::::

Jaeger and Smoke ran after the culprits, Jaeger disappointed by the fact the bystanders made it impossible tom use his grenade launcher. The three turned the corner and one of the coyotes slipped and Smoke shot him in the skull without breaking stride. Jaeger sighed as his friend showed off by spinning his revolver while reloading it. This was why he still didn't have a girlfriend. Played way too many video games. The two ZIA operatives were gaining fast as the culprits didn't have their same endurance.

"Freeze and we won't kill you as well!" Smoke barked. The wolf stopped and held his hands above his head. Smoke immediately tackled him to the ground as Jeager followed the last coyote into an apartment building. He passed the security guard and ordered him to follow the criminal. Jaeger pushed some patrons aside and ran to an open elevator.

"ZIA business," was all the coyote said as the doors slid shut. The agent hummed with the elevator music as it slid upwards and stepped out of the elevator as he saw the other coyote run past him. The agent immediately gave chase and gave a satisfied growl as he followed the criminal to the roof. The other coyote looked frantically around him until his eyes landed on the ZIA agent.

"Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. I would give up if I were you," the coyote growled. The other coyote's eyes darted to the edge of the roof and he made a mad sprint to jump. Jaeger tossed his rifle to the side and bolted after him. The other coyote's foot barely left the ground when the agent tried to yank him back. The agent shot out his other hand to grab anything else of the coyote and a yell that quickly transformed into a high pitched scream erupted from his mouth. Jaeger curiously followed the path of his arm and saw his clawed hand in the other's family jewels. Jaeger heard the door open behind him and he looked back to see Smoke with his gun drawn.

"Who do you work for?!" The coyote barked as he dug his claws deeper. The criminal yipped in pain and glared down the agent.

"You cannot stop us," he cackled in a higher pitched voice. "Your leads will die with your commander!"

"About that," Smoke said behind Jaeger. "The Director is in the hospital, but not in too bad condition. Apparently Savage has a piece of tank armour in his breast pocket from one of his missions. Also the wolf is willing to talk." The two ZIA agents turned to the coyote and Smoke raised a hand in farewell.

"So long, farewell, au wiedersehen, goodbye!" The two agents sang as Jaeger dropped him. The two looked down at the sprawled corpse with smug grins.

"'Who do you work for?!' As you strangled his dick," Smoke chuckled.

"Don't…" Jaeger warned.

"Wait until your wife hears that you're gay!" There was a loud smack that was heard from several blocks away.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

There was a nice, soft feeling on Skye's hand. She cracked open her eyes and was greeted by a stark white ceiling. She was in the hospital again, wasn't she? Her gaze slid to the right side of her bed and was rewarded with the sight of her boyfriend asleep in the chair next to her, his head next to her hand. As much fun as fooling around was, it was these moments that always stood out to her. He cradled her hand to his face and murmured something unintelligible. She moved her hand up slightly and began scratching behind his ear. The silver fox purred as his tail swished behind him. It was hard for her to believe such a cute fox could be so dangerous, but she loved him all the same. She chuckled to herself as she remembered their first meeting. If someone told her that vixen in the courtyard was going to capture her heart, she would've broke their arm.

:::::::::::::::Ten years prior, Savage Estate

Skye stood at the edge of the garden with a drink in her hand and a frown on her face. She had grown tired of the festivities and the flirting. She was content to get tipsy and sleep the rest of the party away in her parents' car. She was almost drunk enough to sleep when she saw another vixen in a plain white dress and a yellow bow stomped out into the courtyard. Deciding that she was the most interesting thing to appear at the party, she followed her. The vixen couldn't walk in a straight line and had a hard time standing.

They eventually made it to the edge of the garden where the silver vixen sat down and hugged her legs closer to herself. Skye stumbled over to her and crashed into her in an attempt to sit next to her. The vixen yipped in surprise as she was squished.

"Haven't you guys embarrassed me enough?" She sighed. Skye thought her voice sounded too deep too match such a pretty face. Her large amber eyes were mesmerizing and the mascara only accented them. The bright yellow bow shone out of her silver fur, like a sun rising between the twin peaks of her ears. The vixen looked a bit miffed and she had the cutest pout. "Please don't tell me you going through with the earrings."

"You're pretty!" Her drunken brain said. The other vixen looked shocked and cocked a brow at her and opened her mouth.

"Wait, wha-," she cut her off with a kiss. Skye surprised herself by her actions, but she smelled too good. There was no perfume or strong artificial scent. She smelled of pines, soap, and was accented by a delightful fruity scent. She began getting handsy with her as her drunken brain couldn't register the fact the other vixen was pushing against her.

"You're such a pretty girl," she slurred. The vixen stiffened underneath her and began to struggle harder.

"Wa-Wait! I'm a guy!" She barked. Skye broke away from her body and looked at the vixen's body. Did she identify as a male?

"Really?" Skye scoffed. "I'll be the judge of that." She snaked her hand up the vixens dress and watched her expression changed from shocked to mortified. She tried to hold her hand back, but the Arctic vixen was much stronger. She reached between her legs and was met with something hard. Skye pulled her hand back with a dumbfounded look. Her eyes shifted back to the fox, now confirmed as a male. He was on the verge of tears, his entire body shaking.

"Just… leave me alone," he choked. Skye felt bad. Really bad. It was like making a pup cry bad. She caressed his cheek as carefully as her lack of motor function would allow. His eyes shot up to her face and the warm smile she wore.

"Then you are such a pretty guy," she purred as she continued to kiss him. The other fox didn't resist this time, allowing her to enjoy their awkward first time in a drunken state. She would wake up the next morning with a killer hangover in a bed that smelled heavily of the other fox and a yellow bow on the bedside table.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She smiled at the memory as Alex mumbled something in his sleep. The moment was broken when the door to the room opened. Alex shot up and his hand quickly moved to his knife. He relaxed and let his hand drop when her parents walked into the room. Her mother looked disappointed (as usual) and her father gave her a tired smile. Her mother was the Secretary of Defense and her father a senator.

"Skye," her mother said in a flat voice. "You should've been more careful." Her gaze drifted to Alex and narrowed her eyes. "Your life is more important than others. Especially someone whose job it is to protect you." The atmosphere in the room thickened as her father stiffened and Alex found the EKG to be very interesting.

"He did it better than anyone you would have sent!" She snapped. "I'm still alive!" This almost always happened. Her mom would make a comment that angered her immediately as she walked into the room. She usually could take a lot of flak from her, but she had no idea what Alex has done for her. She couldn't even compare to him.

"You're still in the hospital," she pointed out bluntly. The EKG flashed a red warning as her heart rate skyrocketed.

"Get. Out," Skye said in a rising voice. She almost felt a vein pop as her mother gave her a disapproving glare. "I SAID GET OUT!" Her father gave her an apologetic glance as he pulled her surprised mother out of the room. Alex began massaging her hand comfortingly as she breathed heavily. She wasted no time grabbing him and pulling him on top of her.

"Whoa! Do you think we really should be doing this?" He asked. He looked into her pleading eyes and sighed. "Fine, but we have to be fast. Someone might come in."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::;;:;;;:;;;;;;;;;;;;;::::::

Nick and Judy scrambled over the fence and landed in the lot. The two of them decided to follow the lead they had by themselves when they found out Skye got off with a few fractured ribs. It was concerning how badly these people wanted to stop them from pursuing this case. They decided to split up and move quickly before their adversaries could mount a counter attack. Judy quickly found the car they were looking for, which was a nice luxury car. It was unlocked and the two small mammals looked around for any clues in the back. Nick checked a glass he found in a cooler and almost dropped it. The calligraphic B on the glass already told him whose car this was.

"Carrots," Nick hissed at his companion. "We need to leave."

"What did I say about that nickname, Slick?" She asked as she looked pensively at a bottle of expensive wine.

"Doesn't matter!" He hissed. "We have to go!" The doors opened to reveal some polar bears wearing suits. Both small mammals glanced at each other nervously as they raised their hands up above their heads. The polar bear at the front just narrowed his eyes and grabbed both of them by the neck.

Maxis: Well, you guys got an extra long chapter, happy?

Judy: I feel neglected.

Maxis: I feel like I need help


	14. Mistakes

Maxis: Man, It's feels great to write freely again!

Nick: Yeah, we were bored for half a year.

Maxis: *shrugs* I wasn't captured by The Godfather.

Nick: You say that like it should mean something.

Maxis: Yeah! A knuckle sandwich!

Chapter 13

Nick and Judy sat quietly between two polar bears in the car they were investigating. Nick was dreading the confrontation with Mr. Big as Judy just stayed silent because Nick was silent. They were uncomfortably smushed together in the back seat between two polar bears, so their conversation options were very limited. They eventually were pulled out of the car and literally carried in front of a small shrew sitting in an ornate chair.

"Who's that?" Judy hissed into Nick's ear. Nick shot her a silencing glare as the shrew started talking.

"Little Nicky," He croaked. "Three years and I finally find you, snooping around my property." He extended his small paw and Nick leaned forward to give it a small kiss. He stepped back nervously while wringing his hands. "It's not polite to disappear while working for someone." Nick swallowed nervously as he shifted in place.

"I'm sorry, M-Mr. Big," Nick stammered. The shrew held his hand up to the fox and he snapped his mouth shut.

"Nicky, you made me think I was betrayed," he said sadly. "And seeing you with that officer only cements my suspicions." Nick shot a worried glance at Judy and tried to open his mouth again but was silenced by a glare from one of the polar bears. "I guess there is only the option of icing you. I'm sorry, Nicky. I truly am." One of the polar bears grabbed Nick and Judy by the collars and held them up from the floor. They watched in horror as the floor split open to reveal a giant freezer. Both small mammals tried struggling away from the death trap when a much younger shrew ran in wearing a wedding.

"Oh, Daddy! You're going to -!" She stopped mid-sentence as she noticed the two mammals about to be frozen. "Daddy! What did I tell you about icing people on my wedding!"

"I have to baby, Daddy has to," Mr. Big said to her. She pouted and her eyes drifted to Judy and she pointed at her excitedly.

"Wait, Daddy," she exclaimed. "That's the officer who saved my life!" Mr. Big looked at her pensively and sighed.

"Fine," he conceded. He snapped his fingers and the two mammals were sitting at a table watching the festivities of a miniature wedding without remembering distinctly how they got there. Nick tentatively took a tiny plate of wedding cake offered to him and looked dumbfoundly from the cake to the tiny fork.

"Mr. Big," Judy started. "Do you remember an Emmit Otterton?" The old shrew chuckled lightly.

"Of course I do," he scoffed. "Who do you think did the beautiful flower arrangements for my daughter's wedding?"

"Do you know what happened to him?" The smirk disappeared from the shrew's face instantly at the question.

"Did something happen to Emmit?"

"He went missing, sir," Nick said as he put his empty plated down. The old shrew looked pensively at his own plate and looked up at Judy.

"Find Mr. Manchas," he said. "He was the driver who took him home last time he was here." Judy thanked him before leaving the table. Nick was about to leave but a polar bear stopped him.

"Nicky," he said softly. "We will continue this conversation when we find Emmit." Nick gulped and followed Judy outside to the Jokemobile. She raised a brow at him, that he ignored.

"Let's go find that driver," Nick said

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alex was luckily already dressed when the nurse came to take Skye for some X-rays and a bath. He sat in the guest chair playing on his phone, waiting patiently. He hummed to himself and chuckled as he remembered the nurse's face as she sniffed the air. His ear twitched as he heard movement outside. Skye wasn't supposed to be back for another half hour. He stood up and placed his phone on the chair. Alex cautiously approached the door and right when he was about to open the door, it slammed open revealing a burly tiger with a wild glint in his eye. Alex was thrown back and hit the opposite wall. He sat there dazed as the tiger stomped over to him and picked up the smaller mammal.

"Where is Skye Summers?" He growled. Alex tried to break out of the iron grip, but had no luck. He locked his amber eyes onto his green ones.

"I think you should check up your butt and around the corner," Alex choked out. The tiger growled and threw the fox , hard, back at the wall. Alex almost blacked out and he stumbled to his feet. "Guess you already did."

The tiger threw a punch at the fox and pinned him between his fist and the wall. Alex felt nothing for a second then a searing pain ran throughout his body. Alex quickly pulled out his knife and stabbed it into the tiger's hand. He roared and let the fox drop to the floor. He glared at the knife in his hand and kicked the fox near the medical bed. Alex hand wrapped around a tube and he yanked it free. He stood unsteadily and saw the tiger rip the knife from his hand. He roared and rushed Alex again. Alex dodged the first punch and grabbed the tiger's hand as he pulled back. The fox used his momentum to boost himself up and landed on the tiger's neck. The tiger tried to shake him off, but Alex already wrapped the tube around his neck. He began punching the fox on his back and harshly backing into the walls. Alex knew that he would most likely black out before he was able to choke this roided monster out. He looked desperately at his body for a weapon and his eyes landed on his claws in his hands. He released the tube and wrapped his arms around the tiger's neck.

"Why don't you just DIE!" Alex snarled with a feral growl. He dug his claws into soft flesh and tore the tiger's neck opened. The tiger fell and Alex rolled off his back. He heard footsteps walking towards him and he tried to feebly lift his head.

"My, my, my," a distorted voice chuckled. Alex saw a large shape looming over him with an ox skull over their head. "A mere fox able to kill one of my enhanced predators? Quite interesting. You will make a wonderful addition to our future." Alex tried to struggle as they picked him up and threw him over their shoulder. He weakly beat on their back, but the adrenaline was gone now. The toll of the fight finally caught up to him and he went completely limp.

Judy: Why him? Why not someone else.

Maxis: Plot advancement and *cough* romantic advancement *cough*

Judy: What was that second part?

Maxis: Dramatic effect.


	15. Finding Loose Ends

Skye: WHERE IS HE?! I'LL *beep* HIS *beep* *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

Maxis: Well, that's my cue to run… Marine! Take over!

Beacon Marine: Maxiiiis! You really gotta do me like that, Maxis?

*Crash*

Skye: WHERE. IS. HE?!

Beacon Marine: *Screams like a little girl* I don't get paid enough for this!

Skye: GET BACK HERE!

Chapter 14

"I hate the Jungle District," Judy grumbled as she shook off water from her foot. "It's all sticky and uncomfortable."

"Yes, Carrots," Nick sighed tiredly. "You've established that the last four hundred times you've said it." He was silently glad that the clothes he wore was waterproof and thermal conditioned. They've been slogging through the forests for hours now and he was sure that without it, he would be complaining twice as much. He looked at the address Mr. Big texted him and saw that they were close to Mr. Manchas' house. They continued climbing the platforms of the jungle district until they came up to the door with the correct house number.

"This better be worth it," the rabbit growled beside him. Nick rolled his eyes and rapped his knuckles on the frame of the door.

"Mr. Manchas!" Nick called into the house. "We have some questions for you! Mr. Big sent us!" There was a slight rustle within the house followed by an insane amount of lock clicks. The two mammals shared a confused look before an eye peaked out from the crack in the door.

"Wh-what does he want?" The owner of the house stuttered.

"Do you know what happened to Emmit Otterton?" Judy asked as she pulled out her notebook and pen. The panther's eye darted quickly around the outside before opening the door wider to reveal a bandaged panther.

"Come in. Hurry," the panther whispered. The two small mammals scurried into his home as he locked the door behind him. For a jungle hut, it was pretty tidy. The framed photos were straight, there was no sign of neglect, and it smelled clean. Mr. Manchas entered behind them and motioned for them to enter the kitchen. Nick and Judy walked in and sat at one side of the kitchen table. Mr. Manchas sat across from them with tentative glance around the house, his eyes lingering on the window.

"Just so you know," the panther whispered as he leaned over the table. "I've told no one else what I'm about to tell you two." He looked nervously at the window and back to the two small mammals.

"Why?" Judy asked as she scribbled notes down on her notepad. He looked nervously at the window again and then down at her notepad.

"I think someone's been watching me," he admitted. "Whenever I go out, I feel eyes on the back of my head." Both of the smaller mammals turned to the window behind them and only saw the looming shapes of the jungle trees. "I'm afraid that if I actually report what happened, they will come after me."

"Seems reasonable," Nick said with a shrug. Judy elbowed him hard and he rolled his eyes at her. "I mean, be realistic, Carrots. If you were working with a mob boss who avoids the police and who has big bulky polar bears as protection and had a choice between him and the tedious justice system for security, who would you choose? Personally? Mr. Big has quite a lead on our justice system, especially for predators." There was a slight edge to Nick's voice at the last statement. Judy looked down at her notepad and sighed.

"Fine," she said as she held her carrot pen up and clicked a button on the side. "Please continue." Both predators stared at the pen as the rabbit held.

"Umm…" Mr. Manchas glanced nervously at the pen again before starting. "I was doing my job, driving Mr. Otterton home, as usual. I stopped nearby his house and he got out. I only got out to grab a snack from a nearby convenience store when I was jumped by some really beefy preds. They were unnaturally strong." He paused and rubbed his bandages nervously. "Luckily for me, the shopkeeper threatened to call the police and fired his gun into the air to get attention. I'm not sure what they wanted with me, but I saw them head towards the direction of Mr. Otterton's route."

"Did you happen to catch any definitive features of your assailants?"

"Just that I could smell that they were predators," The panther sighed. Nick sighed as well and propped his seat on its back legs while craning his neck back to look at the window. "And one of the had a tattoo. It was a skull of a large prey animal with three claw marks across the head, but I can't seem to remember."

"Did it happen to be an ox?" Nick said casually.

"Well, now that you've said it, yes. I do believe now that it was an ox."

"Well, now we're f &$!&$."

Mr. Manchas looked out the window again and his face contorted in horror. Judy clicked her pen's recorder off and spun around in her chair. She was immediately greeted by a bulky mammal wearing an ox skull over their head.

"Shit," was all she could say before other large figures dressed in all black literally broke through the walls.

"We have to leave!" Mr. Manchas yelled as he grabbed both of them and barreled outside. They saw two mammals on the other side of the front door and Judy's arm snapped up with her shock pistol and she fired twice into each mammal. They both collapsed into a spasming mess as the three rushed passed them. More mammals kept trying to jump them and now both Nick and Judy were firing constantly as they ran. They eventually hit the edge of the platforms and they stared at the empty jungle.

"The vines won't support me," Mr. Manchas said dejectedly. He looked at the smaller mammals and swallowed hard. "Listen, I can't go any farther than this. Take the vines to the jungle floor and get this information to the police. Make sure… Make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else." The sounds of the mammals we're getting closer and the panther shoved the to mammals down a gigantic leaf. The two mammals looked back only to see the panther disappear under a sea of bodies.

"Manchas!" Judy yelled before it degenerated into a scream of terror as they passed the end of the leaf. The two bounced from tree to tree until they got caught in a bundle of vines and dropped fast. They stopped inches from the ground and tied together.

"Well at least it can't get worse than this?" Nick said lightly right before multiple police cars stopped in front of them, sirens blaring.

"Please say something else that can bite us in the ass," Judy spat as the spun from their binds.

;:::::::::::::::::::::::::;;;;::::::::;;;:::::::::

Alex woke up to pristine white walls and floors as he was carried. He was now gagged and tied at the wrists and ankles. Usually this type of stuff happened with his girlfriend, but she obviously wasn't here. He hoped. He was placed onto some kind of operating strapped in. He tried to struggle as multiple machines descended from the ceiling.

"Now let's not get hasty," a feminine voice purred. Alex groggily moved his head towards the source but his vision was so unfocused that he only saw two cold blue eyes. "We won't do anything until you're broken, Savage."

Marine: Jeez! For a cripple, she's fast!

Maxis: you're on your own now. *uses instant transmission*

Marine: Man, he only does that when there's unavoidable danger.

Skye: Ahem

Marine: Muffin Button


	16. Post Tragedy is Still Tragic

Maxis: *pop* Hey, it's me, Maxis.

Judy: Dear Lord! Where did you come from?!

Maxis: Hiding from Skye

Judy: Why?

Maxis: Alex getting captured

Judy: Can't be that bad

Marine: AND I SAY AAAAAAAYAYAY YAY YAY AAAAAAAAAYAY YAAAAAAY! I SAY HEY! WHAT'S GOING AAAAAAHHHHHH!

Maxis: Flying through the sky bad

Skye: MAXIS!

Maxis: Bye! *pop*

Judy: … I need to lay off the coffee

Chapter 15

Judy and Nick looked around at the hospital room that once belonged to Skye Summers in complete silence. There were several dents in the walls, some with obvious imprints of the back of Alex's vest. The blood splattered across the room did not give them much hope for their friend. Judy glanced at Skye's face and saw her stoic expression break more and more as her eyes traveled around the room. Her jaw clenched and her snout would scrunch up periodically. She gripped the arms of the wheelchair she was in tightly as tears finally slid down her face.

"Skye…" Nick said quietly. Judy saw him place a hand on her arm comfortingly as she finally broke. The hardened, tough, and almost emotionless vixen that she knew was now wailing.

"Summers!" Nick and Judy turned to see the skunk and coyote ZIA agents storm in. They stopped in their tracks and stared shocked at their leader's state. She continued sobbing as if they haven't arrived and the four mammals didn't know what to do. They were afraid to try and comfort just in case she decided to lash out at them. It took several minutes, but Skye stopped crying and was currently hugging herself while sniffling.

"What the hell happened here?" Smoke muttered. Jaeger frowned as he looked at the SAS knife on the ground. He nudged the skunk and gestured towards weapon.

"Was she close to the guy?" Smoke whispered to his comrade. "He was just SAS, not someone we should care about." Jaeger slapped the back of his head hard with a growl.

"Get your head out of your fantasy game world!" The coyote hissed. "We might not see eye to eye, but at least he was a good mammal! He was obviously someone she cared about deeply!" The skunk stared at him blankly as the coyote grabbed him and pulled him so close that his teeth scrapped against. "That's. Her. Boyfriend."

"Really!" Smoke said bewildered. "I thought she was married to her job."

"She always was quite the actress," Jaeger sighed as he looked at the vixen sadly. "But this isn't an act." They all stood in silence in respect for Skye and Alex for several minutes. The mood of the room was interrupted by yet another visitor. It was Alyssa. She slowly opened the door and approached Skye.

"Cuz," she said softly. "I'm here to take you home." The arctic vixen looked up, but didn't meet Alyssa's eyes. Judy followed her gaze to the shine of something under some debris.

"Alyssa," Skye whimpered. The hyena froze and turned to the shining object.

"I'm really sorry, Skye," she said as she pulled her into a hug. "I can't tamper with evidence. Especially with my record."

"To Hell with it!" Jaeger barked as he moved to the object and moved the debris off of it, revealing Alex's phone. "I'm ZIA, and Director Summers here is taking this phone here as evidence!" He held out the phone to her and she took it tentatively and quickly unlocked it. ("Damn he must trust her a lot to give a ZIA branch Director his password!" *Smack! Smack! Smack!* "Ow!") Judy stared at Alex's home screen in disbelief. There was Director Skye Summers lying in a bed next to Alex. She looked like a completely different mammal! Her eye patch was gone, revealing her cloudy blue eye, and she was smiling with her tongue sticking out. Alex was lying on his side with an eye cracked open in annoyance. She looked carefree and happy.

"Looks like the Skye I knew was never gone," Nick muttered as he looked at the picture.

"I want to go to _our_ home, not mine," Skye whimpered. Alyssa bit her lip and sighed.

"Fine, I'll get Silva and the van." She moved to the door and gave one more glance to Nick and Judy. The meaning was clear. She was begging them to watch Skye. They both nodded and the hyena left with a little bit of weight off her chest. The four mammals waited patiently in the room as Skye was going through the photos in the phone. The ZIA mammals left soon after Alyssa for debriefing. They were hesitant, but trusted Nick and Judy enough to leave them with her.

"D-Director?" Judy asked with a hoarse voice. "Will you be okay?" The vixen looked up from the phone and looked at Judy with one unfocused blue eye.

"No." She seemed detached, not exactly there. "Alex… He gave me everything I needed, but never wanted m. He saved me, literally and figuratively."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Five years prior

Skye screamed as they forced the drill into her leg. She thought her throat was torn to shreds after they sliced her eye, but apparently it wasn't. The masked mammals turned off the drill and left it in her leg.

"I do love breaking you spy types," a female voice purred. "Always making me come up with new ways to torture you!" There were feminine cackles from the other masked mammals, confirming that they're all females.

"I HATE YOU!" The vixen sobbed. The mammals continued laughing and mocking her. The largest mammal held up her hand and the laughing died down.

"You're so close," she hissed. "I could almost taste it." A tongue flicked out of the mask and licked up a trail of blood from her leg. She stalked back to the table covered in horrible torture devices and picked out a crude serrated blade.

"You know," the masked mammal said conversationally. "I was unable to produce kits from a pretty young age. You'll get to share the same experience, but much more painful!" Two mammals unshackled her legs and spread them apart. It took the vixen several seconds to realize what was about to happen and she began begging. Her mother said that she should be able to take anything, but she wouldn't take this.

She wanted a family. She wanted to snuggle her own kits in her arms after they were born. To see herself in them as well as the mammal she loved. Her begs became desperate shrieks as the mammals laughed. The one with the knife took one step before her head was blown clean off her shoulders. Skye's mouth snapped closed as some got into her mouth. The mammals barely got time to register their leader's death when a black blur rushed the mammals holding her legs and both their necks sprayed blood like fountains.

"It isn't polite to harm such a pretty lady," a British male voice scoffed. The blur stopped and Skye saw a fox dressed from head to two in special forces gear. A Spas sat on his back with a knife in his hand.

"Well aren't you a hypocrite!" One of the mammals hissed. "You just killed three!"

"I said pretty," the other fox growled as he pounced on the nearest mammal. She let out a gurgled cry out as he plunged the knife into her chest. He then rushed from out of Skye's view and she heard the sounds of death and vicious snarling. The noise died down and the fox walked back into her view again without his helmet and mask. He was handsome, to say the least. He had bright amber eyes and plush silver fur. Well, except around his mouth, which was covered in blood. The shape of his face was more angular and almost familiar.

"Um, madam," he coughed. "Did you happen to know where they kept your clothes." It didn't really matter when she was being tortured, but she was stark naked. She shyly closed her legs and nodded towards a container near the table with the tools. He gave her a reassuring smile and began rummaging through the box until he found her shirt, vest, pants, and underwear. He looked at the drill in her leg and placed her belongings on the table.

"Sorry, in advance," he said as he detached the drill from the drill bit. "I'll try to take it out as painlessly as possible." He began to carefully pull out the bit as she whimpered. He tossed it aside in disgust and began helping her with her clothes. He ripped off his sleeve to tie up the wound and carried her out of the room bridal style. She clung to him in case he disappeared and this was all an illusion in her head to distract her from what was really happening. They walked onto the roof of the building and saw other special forces carrying other agents out from intelligence groups all over the world.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "We got you. And I promise you'll make it home."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"He was a MI6 trainee back then," Skye finished. Judy looked mortified and Nick clenched his fists angrily. "He was discharged for illegally using MI6 assets to bring in SAS and not being an agent."

"But he saved a lot of lives," Judy muttered in confusion. "He should have been commended for that, not punished."

"Apparently an undercover ZIA agent was killed in the raid," Skye scoffed. "So SAS was pounded into the ground by other intelligence agencies and praised by the public. MI6 pinned the death on Alex."

"Of course," Nick growled. "Very predictable. Blame the fox."

"It's not all bad," Skye said distantly with a hint of a smile on her face. "I met Alex again and SAS picked him right up."

"Again?" Judy asked, but the vixen seem to be staring off into a far off memory. She turned to Nick worriedly. "Is she… broken?"

Nick looked at his hands then back at Judy. For once, there was no shield of humor to hide Nick's emotions. There was a pitying and haunted look in his eyes. As if he's seen something like this before.

"Yes," he finally croaked. "If my mother is any template to go by, then she's broken. We won't know for sure until a week or so."

"I've seen other mammals lose spouses," Judy mused. "And it was never this bad."

"You've never seen a fox lose a mate," Nick said flatly. "My mother had us to help her get through it, but Skye? She's alone. I know Silva and Alyssa will watch her for quite a while."

"But wh-"

"Judy, please," the rabbit paused as he used her real name for once. Judy risked a glance at his eyes again and saw hurt and despair, as if he was reliving some horrible moments in his past. She decided to sit quietly in a room covered in blood and with two scarred foxes.

Maxis: Well… that happened

Nick: Wow… What is wrong with you?

Maxis: Played Silent Hill at a young age against my will and when I couldn't finish it, I had to watch one of my relatives finish it. Nightmares for weeks!

Nick: Gonna have nightmares of fully armoured humans popping into my cubicle.

Maxis: Well it was a doozy. In both word count and content. I didn't want to go too in depth into Skye's torture because, frankly, I picture things I write in my head. It wasn't a pretty image.


	17. Calm before the storm

Maxis: Well, I think Jones is dead.

Skye: Oh, do you want to meet him?

Nick: How even?

Maxis: Ninja vanish!

Skye: Oh Nickyyyyy?

Nick: Keep me out of this.

Chapter 16

The group that gathered in the meeting just the previous day sat with two empty seats. Woods rubbed his forehead as both Sheila and Darren looked defeated.

"We're really sorry, Woods," Sheila said. "But after what just happened, they're moving us to a bigger unit. My father thinks that this unit is a high priority target for the enemy.

"He's not wrong," Woods sighed. Shellon glared at him and slammed his hands on the table.

"Of course he isn't!" Everyone visibly jolted from the usually quiet armadillo's outburst. "We're a target because we're a threat to them! Both commanding officers on the same day were targeted? They are obviously trying to scare us!"

"I don't think they were targeting Alex," Nick said. Judy nodded to him and continued. "Me and Carrots have been looking around the room and the body that was found. That mammal was similar to the predators that chased us in the jungle district. If he was going to go after both a branch director of the ZIA and a SAS operative, he would have been better equipped. He was probably anticipating a crippled arctic fox, not a healthy silver fox that is skilled in taking out larger enemies."

"Well," Honey muttered. "The ZIA had a very interesting piece of information from one of the twits who shot Summers. He said that our leads are with Summers. She might not even know she has them."

"Well, good luck with that," Woods groaned. "Her cousin took her to an undisclosed location not even her mother knows about."

"She's not in any state to answer any questions anyways," Judy growled. Woods slumped in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. He looked ready to break down any second.

"Meeting adjourned," he said quietly. The other mammals looked at the defeated elk and got up to leave.

"I'll get a team to find the old Genesis lab while we're in Europe," Darren reassured Woods, who gave a twitch of a smile in return.

"Thanks," was the last word following his diminishing squad. He put his head in his hands and gritted his teeth. He failed.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nick and Judy split off from the rest of the group and were walking in the direction of Wilde Style. The fox kept glancing at the rabbit suspiciously as they walked. She seemed a bit out of it and almost bumped into things as they walked.

"Something wrong, Carrots?" He asked. She just glanced at him briefly and looked down at her feet.

"You're mother…" she started. Nick sighed and looked at the passing clouds.

"Never recovered," Nick finished bitterly. "That's when she began acting like she does now. It's common for foxes to create a mindset where they never needed their partner. I left my mother for a long time because she thought we were her brothers the first few years." Nick flinched as he remembered how his very motherly mom became more rambunctious after the death of his father.

"Sam had to deal with her longer, no thanks to me," Nick continued. "Her illusion broke after Sam got married and she finally accepted what happened. She wasn't the same, but she still loves us."

"I can't even begin to imagine how that would be like," Judy flinched inwardly. "To lose a father and a mother."

"It's fine, Carrots. Really," Nick reassured her with an easy smile. "Mom got better and, even though dad is gone, we keep his dreams alive with the store. Speaking of which, it's at the end of the block." The red fox gestured to the store with his nose.

"Ohh…" Judy said with a hint of disappointment. The fox looked at her with a raised brow and a smug smile.

"Am I really that charming?" He chuckled back. Judy gave him a pointed stare and his smile slowly dissipated.

"I finally got some friends, Slick," Judy said as her gaze dropped to the ground. "And the first mammal to show me respect is either dead or worse. The cramped closet of an apartment I live in is not going to help me cope with this. I'm just tired of being alone."

Nick was taken aback by her confession at first and then he put himself in her position. Away from home with no one to trust and the world against you. He's been there before and after coming back home, he never wanted to feel it again. Nor would he wish it on anyone who is on friendly terms with him.

"Well, if that isn't a call for help, I don't know what is," Nick said softly as he rubbed her back. "My family will happily let you crash." They walked into the usual bustle of Wilde Style and was greeted happily by Sam's wife.

"Nick!" She said as she left the rack she was sorting. "Sam was worried about you!"

"Sorry, Sylvia," Nick said as he gave her a hug. "Probably showed up on the news a lot in the last two days, huh?"

"Christa was about to strangle that raccoon when she saw you in the back seat of that car," Sylvia chuckled. "But she'll be better now that you're job is done and you're finally home."

"Well…" Nick said. "About that…"

"Don't say anymore," Sylvia said as she rubbed her snout. "It's just good to have you home."

"I hear Nick!" His mother yelled from the second floor. There was a commotion as she ran down the stairs and she slammed open the employee door looking slightly insane and covered in chicken feathers. Her eyes locked on her son, who began edge his way back to the exit. She moved so fast that Nick couldn't even see her and held him tightly by his shoulders. "Are you hurt, Nicky?"

"No…" the younger fox said hesitantly. She sighed in relief and hugged him.

"That's good, kid," she said. She saw Judy over Nick's shoulder and released her son. "Oh, you must be Judy Hopps!" She chirped happily. She crouched to her level and and hugged her as well. Judy returned the hug and was surprised when a hand squeezed her rear end. She squealed involuntarily as the older fox released her.

"Really, Mom?" Nick groaned. "This is the second time you've met her." The vixen chuckled and winked at Judy.

"Usually the first time and a couple of drinks usually gets 'em in the bed," she purred. Judy took one look at her and saw how she accumulated the reputation as a womanizer. She had confidence, charisma, and experience. When used correctly, gender doesn't really go into account. And she knows it.

"Judy, if you don't want to stay here, I really do understand," Nick said flatly.

"Oh, will she be sleeping here?" The glint in Mrs. Wilde's eyes made Judy wary and Nick narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Mother, what did you do to the guest room?"

"Nothing, it's just that Finnick is using it," she said innocently. "So she either has to sleep with me or you."

::::;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"That half of the bed is mine and the other half is yours," Nick said as he dropped her bags on his bed. He folded his blanket in half and left the other half empty except his pillow. When he got no response he turned to the rabbit and saw her looking at the items on his drawers and walls. She ran her hand across his merit badges with her back turned to him.

"So this what you meant," she muttered. "So much work, but still nothing to show." Nick sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, what did I say about getting emotional?" Nick gave her a light pat and continued setting up the bed. "We still need to report in tomorrow, so I suggest getting a good nights sleep. Those missing mammals aren't going to find themselves." All Nick got was a slight nod from the rabbit before he curled towards the wall. He was in between sleep and awareness when something small got onto the bed and propped itself against his back. He said nothing and drifted off to sleep.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The large mammals tossed Alex into the glaringly white cell and closed the door behind them. He lay dazed for a while, completely worn out. Whatever the injected into him was painful. They also took his vest and shirt, leaving him in just his pants and leg guards. They may have emptied his pockets, but they didn't pat him down completely. He ripped open one of his pant legs and began pulling out cereal bars. Luckily he was always ready for a survival situation ever since the crash five years ago. He took a bite out of one of them and looked around the room. There was a bed. Riveting. The rest of room was just white walls, a door and a panel on the wall. He sat on the bed watching the panel suspiciously until it swung down. The fox approached it from the side and a tray slid out. It a full minute for Alex to realize what was on the plate. It was a cooked piece of meat. Alex jumped back onto his bed and stared at the tray in horror. Where the hell was he?!

Maxis: Man, the Tournament Of Power was great! But I feel like I forgot something.

Goku: Didn't you say you were writing? I mean, training seems a lot more fun though…

Maxis: Oh. See ya, Goku!

Goku: Come back to spar anytime!

*pop*

Maxis: Sorry about the wait. Dragon Super was ending and I kind of rewatched it from the Black arc till episode 131. Sorry, again.


	18. One answermore questions

Maxis: Where's Skye?

Judy: Don't know.

Maxis: Aren't you concerned?

Judy: She broke the coffee maker, so, no.

Chapter 17

Nick woke up at the usual time and stretched. He almost jumped out of his bed when his hand brushed against something warm and fuzzy. He snapped his head to the other side of his bed and saw a gray rabbit still sleeping and cuddling her pillow. Nick almost pushed her off the bed to wake her up. Almost. Instead he just slid off the bed and walked to the hallway bathroom. He collected his towels and clothes and went into the shower. He let the warm water cascade through his fur as he stood almost motionless. After a couple of minutes, someone walked into the bathroom and put up the toilet seat. Nick waited a few seconds before calling out.

"Almost thought you were my mom," he joked. "Figured it was you since you didn't ask if I grew some yet."

"You're not disturbed by this?" Judy asked.

"I should be asking you that," Nick shot back. "You got all testy at the nudist club."

"I would have been fine if you're friend didn't stroll up with her naked self," Judy scoffed. "I mean it was swinging everywhere!" Nick turned off the water and peaked his head out of the curtain. Judy was sitting on the toilet with her shorts around her knees and scrolling through her phone. She looked at him questioningly as he pointed to one of the towels on top of the counter. She rolled her eyes and handed it to him.

"So are you getting out, or what?" Nick asked as he wrapped the towel around his waist. I kind-of need to use the full body fur dryer."

"Just get out and face the wall," Judy suggested. "You'll know when you can use the fur dryer." Nick sighed as he stepped out of the shower and faced the wall. There was a rustling of clothes behind him before the shower turned on again.

"You seem fairly accustomed to this," Nick mused. "Have a lot of brothers and sisters?"

"Yep," she chuckled. "About two hundred seventy-five."

"Okay," Nick said as he checked to make sure the rabbit was in the shower. "I know rabbits multiplying is a joke, but really? That's insane!"

"I know," Judy said wistfully. "I was thinking I would only have between six and ten."

"That's pretty aspiring," Nick said. "You must wanna be a trendsetter."

"Well," the rabbit sighed dejectedly. "I just need to find a buck who thinks the same."

"Hey," Nick said reassuringly. "When this case is over, we'll do a bit of soulmate searching, okay?"

"Thanks."

"No problem," Nick said dismissively as he stepped onto the fur dryer, extinguishing any more chance of conversation.

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Alex woke up to the door opening again. His eyes snapped open as some of the large mammals pinned him to his bed. He was about to yell in surprise when one of them covered his mouth. He wore a thick glove, probably learning from his friend's last attempt. The new mammal who walked in made Alex try to get out to tear out her throat. It was a lioness wearing a lab coat and holding a needle lovingly.

"You know," she purred. "You have been injected with more than the lethal amount of our enhancement serum, with no change! I was so surprised! Then I thought maybe what you need is a little kickstart." She held up the needle and tapped it a few times.

"This is a catalyst for the serum. Far more dangerous than just letting it continue normally." She lowered the needle to Alex's exposed midsection agonizingly slow. "Live or die, you have been useful to me, Freya." Alex eyes widened in shock as the revelation hit him. He let out muffled snarls and yells as she cackled. She gestured for the mammal to release his mouth and he took a deep breath and glared at her.

"What the hell do you mean?" He snarled. The lioness smiled as she pulled a picture out of her pocket. It was of two baby vixens sleeping together. One was a reddish brown with dull fur and a silver one with a plush, shiny coat with a pattern identical to his.

"To think!" The lioness said as she looked at the picture. "That old James Savage knew that Genesis allowed for drastic changes in DNA at a young age. Drastic enough to change genders, without a trace." Alex stared at the photo in horror.

"You were looking for me," Alex growled. "And I was stupid enough to hand myself over."

"Don't worry, Freya," she cooed. "Your sister, Venus, will take care of everything." She slowly pressed the needle into his skin and it felt like a fire was started in his body. She pulled the needle out with a satisfied smirk and watched the fox writhe on the bed.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Two weeks later

"Thank you! Have a nice day!" Judy called to the latest customer. She heard a snicker from Nick as he added more stitches to the prom dress he was working on. "Shut it, Slick." The fox just shook his head and continued his meticulous work. It was nice to relax like this since the last few weeks were so stressful. Woods practically ordered them to take a day off and here they were working another job. Judy had to admit, Nick was quite skilled with clothes. He didn't seem to make any mistakes and was very focused. She also noticed he liked to hum as he worked. There was no set tune, just whatever he felt like.

"So," she said as she played with a pen. "Guess I know who to call when I have a wedding." Nick's eyes quickly darted to her before going back to his work.

"I have a limit to how many carrot themed dresses I can make," he said absently. He got to a complicated pattern and pulled the dress off the machine and pulled out a needle and looped it with the right thread expertly. His tongue slowly peeked out of the side of his mouth as he quickly stitched the pattern onto the dress. Judy was about to make a comment about how cute he looked when Sam walked up to the counter.

"Nick, I'll finish that," he said as he tapped his brother's shoulder. Nick jolted slightly and glared at the other fox. "Can you two go upstairs to the attic to get more knitting needles? I can't find the damn things."

"'Kay," Nick said as he stretched. "Let's go, Carrots." Judy hopped off of her stool and followed Nick up the stairs. The attic was not full of useless stuff like she expected. It was the storage area for stuff that couldn't be kept in the main store. The two began looking through the boxes until Judy opened a cupboard in the back. She saw the bottom of the cupboard had scratches in the shape of an arc. She looked at the back wall pensively as Nick walked up to her.

"Found it, Carrots!" He said as he held the box of needles up. He noticed her running her claw along the wall. "What's up?"

"I think," she said as she popped up to grab one of the needles. "Someone was hiding something here." She used the needle to cut open a square along the groove she found. She pried the square off the wall enough for hand to be able to open the door. Nick crouched down next to her and they both stared at the box in the secret compartment. Nick pulled it out and opened it. There was a journal on top of a scrapbook. Nick opened the journal and read the opening page.

"Personal logs of Intern Jason Wilde. Assistant for project Genesis."

Maxis: Ohh! Juicy!


	19. What happens when

Maxis: Journal format peoples

Chapter 18

Entry 1:

I can't really put a date on this since I lost the date a few days after we got in here. I mean, I was way too excited because I was accepted into this project! The date didn't really matter! So, I guess I'll write in this whenever something eventful happens. Like I met a really cool rabbit named Harry Hopps, but he likes being called Hazard. He seems to be the only one to have any humor around here.

Entry 2:

We altered the cells of a bug! I almost forgot about this thing because of how monotonous it got! But it finally happened. The first step! Me and Hazard got it! We changed a fly from black to blue! We shared our data with the rest of the scientists so they can advance their work. There's going to be a party to celebrate this success. Me and Hazard plan to party hard.

Entry 3: I found Maya Moren crying alone in a lab. I wasn't sure what to do. I left my equipment there and I came back to her crying on top of it. I found out a bunch of the female scientists were talking about their children and she felt left out and went back to her room. She dreamed she had twins, and she loved them so much. Then she woke up. She told me that it was like her children were yanked away from her and she doesn't know what happened to them. Me and Hazard agreed that we would no longer do this for ourselves, but for Maya. Hazard seemed to just agree because it gave him a goal. He never saw the desperate look in Maya's eyes.

Entry 42: I think the pink dancing hippos are normal? I'm not sure. They're always at the edge of my vision. They've been there for a while, so I don't mind them. It's the noodle dancers I'm worried about. Or maybe the severe sleep deprivation. The important thing is Hazard and I have made the blueprint to life, the universe, everything! Or did it have something to with Gen (there is an ink line running from the end of n to the edge of the page.)

Entry 43: Just read what I wrote last night. It was interesting, to say the least. What I meant to say was Hazard and I made a base genetic modifier. After so many sleepless nights. Mason caught on to what we were doing and wanted to help. I want to keep this private from the other scientists because this blueprint is specially designed for Maya. We just need to alter the code so it can revitalize Maya ovaries. Wow, that sounds wrong.

Entry 78: We are almost there. I just need to implant the modifier into Maya. Of course the only one with a surgical degree in a building full of scientists is the intern. I'm nervous. At least being barren allows Maya the slightest chance of bearing a child. If I mess up one thing, there will be no hope. So now I'm getting ready. I hope she can forgive me.

Entry 85: I felt one kick. Maya has been gaining weight and she was so excited. I was checking for a heartbeat when instead I was deafened by a kick to the stethoscope. I put my hand on the same area and I can tell you that kid needs to be a sports star. Scared the red right off of me.

Entry 97: I have safely delivered two healthy vixen cubs. I will never work in a maternity ward after that. Found the kicker. It's the grey one. Freya, I believe her name was? Maya named them Venus and Freya, goddesses of beauty. Said they were the most beautiful things she's ever seen. I've personally seen a bit too much of the bottom of Freya's foot. She kicked me in the face! Twice! Both Hazard and the cub get a kick out of me getting kicked. Oh, I'm such a loser. Venus is more concerning. She has a higher brain function than Freya, but her lower body is much weaker. Freya had that problem too, but she regenerated stem cells. She seems to have a physical boost while Venus got a mental one. Maybe we can introduce Freya's stem cells into her twin's body when they're older.

Entry 100: Went out to celebrate because we could and now I have a strange vixen following me. She seemed nice enough to talk to, and now I see her sometimes while Hazard and I pick up baby stuff for the twins. It's kind of concerning, but I think she's cute. Hazard says she's shifty and would probably mug me in my sleep

Entry 109: Maya is dead. So is Mason. Maya's body is missing and we believe it is one of the other scientists. The work on project Genesis is falling apart. No one can trust each other. I can't even trust Hazard. He is a great actor, but he forgets I'm a fox from the poorer district. I can see through his facade. There is talk of disbanding the team and I'm sorry to say I agree.

Entry 115: I'm currently sleeping in a hotel before leaving for Zootopia. Hazard is taking the plane next week because he needs to collect his data. He also doesn't need to know that the vixen that was following me was basically a hit man for a crime boss named Mr. Big. She said that she was interested in me and that she feels awkward talking to me. I decided to take the plane with her and solve this little issue when we get back home.

Entry 116: I can't believe I lost this journal for so many years! We just moved away from our cramped apartment and we bought a nice little store to start our business. My sons (scratched out words follow this and a large bolt of ink is in the middle of the sentence, as if the pen was idle.) I find it ironic that Christa and I had twins so easily while Maya worked so hard for something she couldn't fully enjoy. Maya taught me how precious life was and I will hold that close to my heart. That's why I'm going to hide my work on Genesis from my family. I'll tell them about it when they're older.

Entry 117: I just got a call from Hazard. Someone is hunting the Genesis team. We both agreed that we are going to distance ourselves from our families to protect them. Nick, Sam, and my beloved Christa, if you find this, please know that I knew I was not coming back. Please don't hate me once you find this. I'd rather die than put you in danger. I love you all, and I'm sorry.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nick leaned against the boxes behind him as he looked at the final page of the journal. Judy read through page over and over and looked up at the fox.

"We need to take a little vacation back to Bunny Burrows."

Maxis: If you're wondering what happened to me, my iPhone died. I went to bed and plugged in my phone. Woke up and found out the charging port broke. My phone was out of batteries and I had no way to prepare for it. Had to get a new phone and I had to try and recover my emails with little success until recently.


End file.
